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 China is doubling down on its “zero-COVID” policy despite increasing coronavirus infections and growing economic and social costs.

Chinese officials on Saturday said the country will continue to “unswervingly” follow the policy despite speculation that it would ease restrictions.

“Practice has proved that our pandemic prevention and control policy and a series of strategic measures are completely correct, and the most economical and effective,” said Hu Xiang, a diseID-19 death tolls in other countries like the United States when defending the restrictions. The U.S. reports more than 1 million deaths from the coronavirus while China reports more than 5,000, though the official death toll has been questioned by experts.

Despite the government’s stance, pushback against the policy is growing, particularly after a 3-year-old boy died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the city of Lanzhou on Wednesday when restrictions delayed efforts to get him to a hospital.

Traders acted on the rumors that China might ease the policy, rallying the country’s stock market. It remains possible that discussions of easing the policy are ongoing, but experts believe the change is likely to happen gradually.

“All the signs are pointing to the beginning of preparation for an eventual reopening, especially given the rising cost of the ‘dynamic zero-Covid’ policy for the economy,” Goldman Sachs economists said in a Monday noteto The Wall Street Journal. “The actual reopening is still months away as elderly vaccination rates remain low and case fatality rates appear high among those unvaccinated based on Hong Kong official data.”

Implications of the policy have also hit Apple, which said in a statement that it expects lower shipments of its iPhone 14 due to “significantly reduced capacity” at its Zhengzhou factory after thousands of workers fled from lockdown policies.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases in China hit a six-month high on Sunday with nearly 5,500 infections reported. Chinese officials have suggested that the increasing infections are due at least in part to residents skirting lockdown rules.