How is China beating covid-19 and are the reported numbers reliable?

By Donna Lu

AS THE second wave of the covid-19 pandemic worsens across the northern hemisphere, life has largely returned to normal in the country where the virus first made its mark.

Restaurants and markets in Chinese cities are bustling, as are tourist sites and cinemas. In Wuhan, where a lockdown in late January first shocked and then became a precedent for the rest of the world, recent months have seen packed concerts, food festivals and pool parties.

China never imposed a nationwide lockdown, and seems to have avoided the new …