China suspends social media accounts of Covid policy critics

Medical workers check on an elderly patient arrives to an emergency hall in a hospital in Beijing, Saturday, January 7, 2023. [AP Photo]

China has suspended or closed the social media accounts of more than 1,000 critics of the government's policies on the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country moves to further open up.

The popular Sina Weibo social media platform said it had addressed 12,854 violations including attacks on experts, scholars and medical workers and issued temporary or permanent bans on 1,120 accounts.