After several weeks of rigid curfews, the largest Chinese city of Shanghai has reported the first corona deaths of the current wave. The authorities in the financial metropolis announced on Monday morning that three infected people had died on Sunday. However, the number of new infections decreased only marginally. On Sunday, 19,831 asymptomatic and 2,417 symptomatic new infections were registered. On Saturday, there were 21,482 and 3,238 new cases.
The three dead were elderly people who had previously been ill. Her age was given as 89 to 91 years. Most recently, Jilin Province in northeast China reported two Covid deaths in mid-March, which were considered the first in China in more than a year. However, there are uncertainties about which causes of death in the elderly or chronically ill are given and which cases actually occur in the Covid statistics.
Anyone who is infected must be quarantined
During the lockdown, all residents will be tested again and again. Anyone who is infected has to go to a quarantine facility. Exhibition halls with tens of thousands of beds have been set up in Shanghai for this purpose. It is unclear how long the lockdown will last.
Strict lockdown did not lead to the desired success
Shanghai is at the center of the largest wave of corona that the most populous country in the world has experienced since the outbreak of the pandemic two years ago. For several weeks, the majority of the approximately 26 million inhabitants have not been able to leave their homes. But strict curfews have so far failed to contain the virus. A week and a half ago, the city government first reported more than 20,000 infections per day and since then the infection rate has remained more or less constant. Since March 10, more than 200 million corona tests have been carried out in the metropolis.
As the rest of the world tries to live with the virus, Chinese authorities continue to implement a rigid zero-Covid strategy, already responding to minor outbreaks of infection with lockdowns, mass testing and aggressive contact tracing. A number of cities in the country are currently in partial or complete lockdown. However, the highly contagious ommicron variant pushes China’s rigid measures to their limits.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
