SHANGHAI REPORTS COVID DEATHS AS CHINA RULES OUT RELAXING POLICIES
China on Monday reported deaths of three people from Covid-19 in Shanghai for the first time since the financial hub entered a lockdown in March following an Omicrondriven outbreak that’s confined millions to their homes and disrupted production and economic output.
Shanghai reported 22,302 new asymptomatic and symptomatic cases. It reported 19,831 new daily asymptomatic Covid-19 cases on April 17, down from 21,582 on the previous day.
New symptomatic cases stood at 2,417, down from 3,238 for April 16.
The city of around 25 million residents have been logging more than 20,000 Covid-19 cases daily for days but until Monday’s announcement authorities had maintained no one had died of the infection.
A brief statement from the city’s health authorities said on Monday that the three who died on Sunday were aged between 89 and 91, two women and one man, and were not vaccinated.
The three deaths took the overall Covid-19-related deaths in China to 4,641.
Separately, China’s health minister Ma Xiaowei, in an article published on Monday, ruled out easing China’s current policies on containing Covid outbreaks, and pledged even tougher measures to prevent major clusters of the disease from breaking out, according to a report in South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Ma said there will be no relaxation of rules ahead of the twicein-a-decade Communist Party of China Congress, a reshuffle of the top leadership where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a unprecedented third term.
It is expected to be held in the second half of 2022.