Shanghai reported its first COVID-19 deaths Monday since entering a strict lockdown late last month as it grapples with a surge of cases.
All three people who died were unvaccinated, between the ages of 89 and 91, and had underlying health conditions, Chinese officials said. But some experts in the West remain skeptical of China‘s COVID-19 figures.
“After entering hospital, their conditions grew worse, and they died after attempts to save them were unsuccessful,” Wu Ganyu, the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission inspector, told reporters, according to the Associated Press.
The city of 26 million reported 23,362 new COVID-19 cases and is in its third week of lockdown as it tries to meet the country’s “zero COVID” goal. Shanghai’s outbreak appears to be driving most of China’s caseload. China reported 27,717 cases and 29 deaths on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University. Since late March, Shanghai has recorded roughly 300,000 cases.
XI’S ZERO-COVID POLICY SHOWS WHY COMMUNIST CHINA REMAINS A THREAT
Shanghai, a key port city, began imposing a strict lockdown on March 28 in a bid to tamp down the spread of the virus. The lockdown has disrupted global supply chains and raised economic concerns in China. Vice Premier Liu He, a top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping, said the country will ramp up spending to stabilize supply chains.
As part of the lockdown, anyone who tests positive is required to quarantine for a week. Officials have also imposed restrictions on residents leaving their homes. Residents have reportedly struggled to purchase medicine and food as supply chains have been disrupted. Some residents in Shanghai have protested the policy.
extremely rare protests in shanghai
thousands of chinese take to the streets, angry about lockdown pic.twitter.com/Zir8QTfD72>— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) April 18, 2022
In total, China has reported roughly 1.8 million COVID-19 cases and 13,777 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, a number experts say is remarkably low for a country with 1.4 billion people. For comparison, Canada, which is home to 38 million people, has reported about 3.6 million COVID-19 cases and 38,384 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has had close to 1 million deaths from COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.
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“Three people. THREE. That is their official count. Anyone that ever said China was doing a good job should be ashamed,” Pradheep Shanker, a radiologist and writer for National Review, tweeted. “Simply isn’t/wasn’t true. Shanghai reports first Covid deaths since the start of its latest lockdowns.”
