China called for “patience” with its tough COVID policies and warned against any “war-weariness” as local cases soared to their highest since August, days ahead of a pivotal Communist Party congress. Many countries are learning to co-exist with COVID-19, but China has repeatedly quashed any speculation of a let-up in its counter-epidemic policies, which can range from locking down a local community to sealing an entire city, even though fatalities remain low by global standards and symptoms, if any, are mostly mild. Pressure on officials to stop outbreaks as soon as they spring up has risen in recent weeks as the highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants BF.7 and BA.5.1.7 appeared in mainland China for the first time, […]