The strict "zero covid" policy to combat the covid-19 pandemic for about three years has been causing growing discontent in China, and sporadic demonstrations, some of which

have been punctuated by violence, have been held in a number of cities in recent days, including at the world's largest iPhone manufacturer located in the center of Zhengzhou and owned by the Taiwanese giant Foxconn.

Despite the many vaccines available, unlike other countries in the world, China still imposes isolation measures immediately after infections appear, including quarantining those who are diagnosed with the disease in centers, and almost daily "BCR" tests to enter public places.

The National Health Commission reported on Sunday that China recorded a record high in the number of coronavirus infections, amounting to 39,791 new infections on Saturday, of which 3,709 were symptomatic and 36,082 asymptomatic.

On Saturday, the country registered 35,183 new cases of the virus, of which 3,474 were symptomatic and 31,709 were asymptomatic. Excluding imported cases, China recorded 39,506 new domestic infections, of which 3,648 were symptomatic and 35,858 asymptomatic, up from 34,909 the day before. A new death was recorded compared to no deaths recorded the day before, bringing the total number of deaths to 5233. To date, Mainland China has recorded 307,802 confirmed infections with symptoms.

Demonstrators had protested across China on Friday, reflecting public anger at the expansion of lockdown measures to curb the outbreak of the virus, in the form of rare protests of their kind that took place in the Xinjiang region in western China and the capital Beijing.

The crowds, who took to the streets in the evening in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region, echoed chants: "end the lockdown!"Raising their fists in the air after a deadly fire on Thursday sparked outrage over the prolonged lockdown measures, as videos circulated on the platforms showed.

The police did not delay in imposing restrictions on online discussions about the demonstration. The hashtag "Urumqi road" was banned on China's Twitter-like short message platform Weibo shortly after photos of the rallies were posted.