China’s screeching U-turn on Covid will not be an instant fix

A commuter wearing a protective mask waits for a train at a Shanghai subway station. Public transport use is below pre-pandemic figures. Photograph: Casey Hall/Reuters

From zero tolerance to “let it rip”. China has not just changed its mind on how to cope with Covid, it has executed the mother of all U-turns in response to slower growth and mounting civil unrest at the draconian lockdowns.

If Beijing is expecting an immediate economic boost from abandoning its tough controls it is mistaken. There will be a growth dividend from the policy shift but the state of the world’s second biggest economy will get worse before it gets better, and it will be next spring at least before the easing of restrictions starts to pay off.