In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker disinfects another person after taking a COVID-19 test sample at a residential area in Shanghai, China, on Saturday, April 16.
Jin Liwang / AP
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Jin Liwang / AP
In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker disinfects another person after taking a COVID-19 test sample at a residential area in Shanghai, China, on Saturday, April 16.
Jin Liwang / AP
BEIJING (AP) – Shanghai authorities on Monday reported the first COVID-19 deaths in the latest outbreak in China’s wealthiest and most populous city.
City Health Commission Inspector Wu Ganyu told journalists that all three of the dead were elderly, had underlying diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“After being hospitalized, their condition worsened and they died after attempts to save them were unsuccessful,” Wu said.
The death toll rose to 4,641, which China says has succumbed to the disease since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents are being confined in their homes for a third week as China continues to adopt a “zero tolerance” strategy to contain the outbreak, requiring any isolation. Who can be infected.
China on Monday said 23,362 people had tested positive for the virus in the previous 24 hours, most of them asymptomatic and most in Shanghai.
The city has reported more than 300,000 cases since the end of March. Shanghai began easing restrictions last week, although officials have warned the city is not getting the outbreak under control.
Shanghai, home to China’s largest port and most important stock exchange, is unlikely to be prepared for such a major undertaking.
Residents in short supply of food and daily necessities while enduring lockdown conditions, and tens of thousands of people under medical observation have been isolated in crowded facilities where lights are always on, trash can overflow, food not enough and no hot shower.
Anyone who tests positive but has few or no symptoms must spend a week in an isolation facility.
Concern is growing about the economic impact of tough government policies.
China’s economic growth accelerated to 4.8% still weak from a year earlier in the first three months of 2022 as shutdowns slashed output in major industrial cities. Official data showed growth accelerated from 4% in the previous quarter.
While the ruling Communist Party has urged more targeted containment measures, local officials have frequently imposed strict regulations, possibly for fear of being fired or punished due to the outbreak. broadcast in their area.
In the city of Wenzhou, where only a handful of cases have occurred, authorities have authorized rewards of up to 50,000 yuan ($7,800) for information about people who falsify their health status, the news site reported. Online The Paper reported.
