Shanghai authorities on Monday reported the first COVID-19 deaths of the latest outbreak in China’s most populous and wealthiest city.
All three who died were elderly, had underlying diseases such as diabetes and hypertension and had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus, city Health Commission inspector Wu Ganyu told journalists.
“After entering hospital, their conditions grew worse and they died after attempts to save them were unsuccessful,” Wu said.
The deaths raise to 4,641 the number of people China says have succumbed to the disease since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents are being confined to their homes for a third week as China continues to employ a “zero-tolerance” strategy to curb the outbreak, demanding isolation of anyone possibly infected.
China on Monday said 23,362 people had tested positive for the virus over the previous 24 hours, most of them showing no symptoms and almost all of them in Shanghai.
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