Shanghai has reported the first deaths due to Covid-19 since the start of the wave of the Omicron variant, which has been affecting the city for over a month: these are three elderly people with chronic diseases, the municipality reported in a post on social media . “The three people got worse after being hospitalized and died despite the doctors’ efforts,” reads the message that mentions the age of the victims: two women aged 89 and 91 and a man aged 91. They all had a range of underlying health problems such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Shanghai has been grappling with the Omicron variant since the end of February and with the first targeted lockdowns that have gradually expanded to affect the entire city of 26 million inhabitants for two weeks in efforts to bring the worst wave of Covid under control. -19 from the Wuhan crisis of early 2020.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Health Commission reported that more than 20,000 local cases were detected on Sunday, including 2,417 confirmed infections (part of the 2,723 detected nationwide) and 19,831 asymptomatic carriers, announcing a new total cycle of nucleic acid tests and unsanitary from today until Thursday in areas subject to the greatest restrictions and considered as the most at risk.
China, where the novel coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, has largely controlled the situation thanks to the “zero tolerance” approach to Covid, made up of mass testing, travel restrictions and targeted lockdowns , even on a large scale. The Omicron variant, feared for its faster spread, however, has questioned the policies followed so far.
China reported new deaths from Covid as the last time on March 19: they were two people in the northeastern province of Jilin, particularly affected for over a month, resulting in the first deaths due to the virus in more than a year.