>god knows why

Actually many Chinese experts will tell you why: when you spend two years painting the picture that the decadent west is still suffering the deaths of covid, that opening up is not the way to go, and that the Chinese way is the superior way, admitting that you can't yet produce mRNA vaccines (thus needing to import them) is a turnabout Xi can't afford. Both on a personal level (loss of face is massively embarrassing in Chinese culture, and it'll taint him personally as the embodiment of the Party), and structural level (the deal is that the Chinese Communist Party will take care of you if you follow the rules), Xi is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think the approach they seem to have followed is to throw their population under the bus rather than admit their mistake: "oh you're protesting the lockdowns? fine, we're opening up, just don't complain about the hundreds of thousands of deaths" and be done with it. They haven't stocked up on medicines (except for this most recent one), spare hospital capacity, or anything to deal with the certain upcoming wave. It's going to be a human tragedy in absolute numbers on the scale of the US or India. Very sad.