Shanghai reports first Covid deaths since the start of lockdown

Shanghai reported the first Covid deaths since the start of its weeks-long lockdown, three elderly people with underlying conditions, the city government said Monday.

"The three people deteriorated into severe cases after going into hospital, and died after all efforts to revive them proved ineffective," the city said on social media.

The deceased included two women aged 89 and 91, and a man aged 91, the city said, adding that they all had a variety of underlying health complaints such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Shanghai, China's largest city, has stewed under a patchwork of lockdown restrictions this year amid the country's worst Covid-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

The eastern business hub posted 22,248 new domestic cases on Monday, of which 2,417 were symptomatic, according to the municipal health commission.

China, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, has largely slowed new cases to a trickle thanks to a zero-Covid policy of mass testing, travel restrictions and targeted lockdowns.

But the world's most populous nation has recently struggled to contain outbreaks in multiple regions, largely driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

The country last reported new Covid deaths on March 19, two people in the northeastern rust belt province of Jilin -- the first such deaths in more than a year.

Shanghai’s lockdown has evoked a sharp response from the international community, as China stands in marked contrast with other parts of the world that are learning to live with the virus. 

Authorities had imposed a two-stage lockdown to encompass the entire city. 

“China is going to be left behind,” said Siva Yam, president of the Chicago-based U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce, to US-based media company Politico. 

“When you look at the United States and Europe, they are opening up, they have accepted the fact that the only way you can control it is to accept that it will be in the community.”

However, the Chinese government has continued to ramp up its “no COVID” messaging, with China’s official Xinhua news agency warning Thursday that the country’s medical system risked “breaking down” in the event of an even larger COVID outbreak. 

The state newspaper China Daily boasted last Saturday: “China will defeat Omicron again with dynamic zero-COVID policy” .