BEIJING — A trickle of changes around China's Covid controls in the last 24 hours has raised hopes that broader relaxation is on its way.

Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said at a meeting Wednesday that China faces a new Covid situation "as the Omicron variant's pathogenic nature weakens, vaccination becomes more common and [there's] an accumulation of experience with Covid prevention and control." That's according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese state media report late last night.

"We believe Sun's speech, in addition to the notable easing of Covid control measures in Guangzhou yesterday, sends yet another strong signal that the zero-Covid policy will end within the next few months," Nomura's Chief China Economist Ting Lu and a team said in a report Thursday.

"However, restrictions and lockdowns may not truly moderate before March 2023 due to a likely surge in Covid case numbers and disruption, as the current narrative that Omicron is still very deadly has yet to be changed for a majority of Chinese people, especially those in less developed regions," the report said.

But after the emergence of the more contagious Omicron variant, local authorities tried to control outbreaks with more stringent measures, leading to a two-month Shanghai lockdown that dragged down growth in the second quarter.