China reported the death of three people from covid in Shanghai for the first time since the financial center went into lockdown at the end of March.
A statement from the health commission of the city said the victims were between 89 and 89 years old and were not vaccinated.
Shanghai officials said that only the 38% of residents over 60 years are fully vaccinated.
The city is now going to carry out another round of mass testing, which means that the strict lockdown will continue for a fourth week for most residents.
So far, China has reported that no one had died of covid in the city, an assertion that is increasingly questioned.
Deaths on Monday were also the first related to covid officially recognized by the authorities throughout the country since March 976.
Analysis by Robin Brant – Shanghai Correspondent
The timing of this announcement is strange.
In the first place because, up to this point, it was almost impossible to think that anyone in a city of almost 20 millions of inhabitants had succumbed to this wave of the virus.
But second, and more importantly, we know that there have already been deaths after contracting covid in this outbreak. The media have reported this.
It happened with dozens of elderly patients in a single hospital in Shanghai. But the authorities did not count them as official deaths from covid. Apparently, they died from underlying problems.
So, what has changed? The answer is that nothing seems to have changed in terms of clinical evaluations.
People with underlying health problems died after testing positive, but the mortality rate remained zero.
Now three people have died in very similar circumstances but the official death toll has increased.
It is fair ask: is this the reason why the authorities have decided that they need to make public the dangers of this great wave of a virus against which barely half of older Chinese of 60 years are fully vaccinated?
Because until now this was a virus that the Shanghai authorities had warned could devastate the population -why else would they shut down the city?- and yet it hadn’t officially killed anyone.
In a statement announcing the deaths, the Shanghai Health Commission said that the three people died in hospital on Sunday despite “all efforts to resuscitate them.”
The agency added that all three people had underlying health conditions.
Since the discovery of an omicron outbreak three weeks ago, the The city has been under strict lockdown, which has angered residents.
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Millions of people have been confined to their homes, and anyone who tests positive is sent to quarantine centers.
In recent weeks, many have taken to social media to to complain about restrictions and lack of food.
People have been forced to ask for food and water and wait for that the government distribute vegetables, meat and eggs.
Analysts estimate that many are staying no supplies.
The extension of the shutdown has overwhelmed delivery services, grocery store websites, and even government supply distribution.
But with more than 20. new cases per day, the authorities are in trouble.
In recent weeks, the city has turned exhibition halls and schools into quarantine centers and has set up makeshift hospitals.
The recent increase in cases in China, although small compared to some countries, is a major challenge for the Asian giant’s “covid zero” strategy , which uses rapid lockdowns and aggressive restrictions to contain any outbreak.
China’s policy contrasts with that of most countries that are trying to live with the virus.
But the higher transmissibility and softer nature of the omicron variant has raised questions as to whether the current strategy is sustainable in the long term.
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