Shanghai reports first Covid deaths as China rules out relaxing measures

Beijing: Shanghai reported three deaths due to COVID-19, the first in the financial hub after it was hit by the Omicron variant last month, while a top official ruled out relaxing the curbs until the ruling Communist Party Congress met later this year to elect Chinese President Xi Jinping for a record 3rd term in power.

On Sunday, three COVID-19 deaths were reported in Shanghai.

The deceased were two females and one male, aged between 89 and 91. They suffered from comorbidities including coronary heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, the city's municipal health commission reported.

None of them was vaccinated against COVID-19 and was in severe condition after being admitted to the hospital and every effort was made to save their lives, it said.

These are the first officially admitted fatalities after the city went into lockdown towards the end of last month.

According to China's National Health Commission, the Chinese 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.

By the end of Sunday, Shanghai had 16 COVID-19 patients in severe condition receiving treatment in designated hospitals.

As the cases continued to spiral, health officials announced more COVID tests amid reports of growing anger and frustration of people about the continued lockdown for the third week.

Shanghai has seen a continuous decline of newly-reported cases in some areas while those under closed-off management will undergo nucleic acid testing once every day from Monday to Thursday, the local health commission said.