Shanghai: China reports first Covid deaths since the start of the lockdown

Beijing, Apr 18: China on Monday reported first fatalities in Shanghai due to the ongoing COVID-19 surge in the city where the Omicron variant continues to paralyse the country's business hub of 26 million people.

According to the Shanghai Health Commission, three Covid-19 related deaths were reported on Sunday. They were aged between 89 and 91 and all had underlying diseases.

According to its report, the mainland on Sunday reported 2,723 locally-transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 2,417 were in Shanghai.

Shanghai also reported 19,831 locally-transmitted asymptomatic infections of the novel coronavirus Sunday, out of a total of 20,639 local asymptomatic carriers newly identified on the mainland, the Commission report said. Apart from Shanghai, 15 other provincial-level regions on the mainland saw new local COVID-19 cases, including 166 in the north-eastern province of Jilin, it said.

A total of 1,637 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland on Sunday, said the daily report. That brought the mainland's total number of COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals after recovery to 151,407 as of Sunday. Over the past day, 33,882 close contacts were released from medical observation on the mainland, the report said.

Three new deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Sunday in Shanghai, according to the report.

The first deaths have been reported as local authorities embarked on a plan to gradually restore production and business activity in China's commercial centre after more than two weeks of lockdown.

On Sunday, Shanghai local government issued the first edition of epidemic prevention guidelines for the city's industrial enterprises to resume production.

The purpose of the guidelines is to coordinate epidemic control efforts and social economic development. Released by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the guidelines stipulated that all district governments and authorities at different levels should actively support enterprises to resume operations and guide their epidemic prevention work using a case-by-case approach, state-run Global Times reported.

China reported 26,155 new cases, all but 3,529 of which had no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95% of the total, or 24,820, including 3,238 with no symptoms.

The city has reported more than 300,000 cases since late March.

Shanghai began easing restrictions last week, though a health official warned the city didn't have its outbreak under control.

At the convention center, residents are checked twice a day for fever and told to record health information on mobile phones, according to Beibei, who asked to be identified only by her given name, told The Associated Press in an interview by video phone.

The 420,000-square-meter (4.6 million-square-foot) exhibition center is best known as the site of the world's biggest auto show.

Other quarantine sites include temporary prefabricated buildings. R

esidents of other facilities have complained about leaky roofs, inadequate food supplies and delays in treatment for medical problems.