Seven Covid Related Deaths Reported After Shanghai Undergoes Another Lockdown

On Tuesday, China announced seven additional Covid-19-related deaths in Shanghai, following hundreds of thousands of cases in the city amid a weeks-long lockdown.

Continuous Spread

(Photo : Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT - A health worker (C) wearing personal protective gear gestures to residents on a street during the second stage of a Covid-19 lockdown in Jing'an district in Shanghai on April 1, 2022.

Even while the illness continues to spread, city officials announced the first deaths of this epidemic on Monday, with Tuesday's fatalities increasing the official toll to just ten.

Beijing claims that its zero-Covid policy of tight lockdowns, mass testing, and extended quarantines has prevented deaths and public health disasters in most of the globe.

However, some have questioned official data in a country where the massive senior population has a poor vaccination rate.

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Omicron

Since the Omicron form rose in January in Hong Kong, with a large percentage of unvaccinated elderly, approximately 9,000 people have died out of 1.18 million Covid-19 cases.

Unverified social media posts claimed that the killings in Shanghai were going unnoticed, but the claims were swiftly removed from the internet.

According to Shanghai health officials, less than two-thirds of citizens over 60 had had two Covid vaccines, and just 40% had gotten a booster.

Statement to the Press

According to local health official Wu Qianyu, who spoke at a news conference on Tuesday, the seven recently reported deaths were unvaccinated individuals.

The Shanghai Municipal Health Commission said they were between 60 and 101 and had underlying diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

According to the panel, the individuals "got seriously ill after hospital admission and died following inadequate rescue measures, with the immediate cause of death being underlying conditions."

Rising Cases

More than 20,000 new, largely asymptomatic Covid cases were reported in Shanghai on Tuesday, defying officials' efforts to eradicate the disease.

Since March, many of the city's 25 million citizens have been restricted to their homes, with some complaining about food shortages, harsh quarantine conditions, and heavy-handed policing on social media.

Protest footage has spread quicker than the government's ability to remove it.

After the virus first appeared in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, the country's zero-tolerance attitude to Covid had limited new cases to a trickle.

However, officials have been scrambling to manage an outbreak that has expanded across many locations in recent weeks, partly due to the fast-spreading Omicron variety.

Under Lockdown

According to one estimate released on Monday, around 350 million people in at least 44 cities in China are presently under lockdown.

Feeling Sick?

You may have COVID-19 if you have a fever, cough, or other symptoms. The majority of people have minor illnesses and can recuperate at home.

Treatment may be available if you test positive and are an older adult or someone at high risk of becoming severely unwell from COVID-19. Even if your symptoms are moderate right now, contact a healthcare physician soon away following a positive test to see whether you are qualified.