Xi seems to be setting himself up for a Mao-like personality cult. In this near god-like state, he must show he is in control, and he has chosen the ridiculous no-Covid policy in which a relative few cases lead to the shutdown of an entire town or city (including trapping people who happen to be visiting the town/city) for several weeks. Unfortunately for ordinary Chinese people, the only way this could change is if enough high up leaders basically depose Xi (if that's even possible, Mao died of natural causes without being deposed).
A side note, information is VERY controlled in China. E.G. Tienanmen Square is know to the majority of Chinese people only as a geographic location, not for the deadly protests. Mao remains a demigod. And example of the intellectual tap-dance done to sustain this is that the Cultural Revolution is acknowledged as having been terrible, but Mao is excused as not knowing what was happening (sort of like Stalin's purges of party faithful in which those being purged asked, "Does Comrade Stalin know?").