Shanghai reports first deaths from current COVID-19 outbreak
Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, is on lockdown.[Kyle Hasegawa / CC BY 2.0]
BEIJING (AP) – Officials say three people have died from COVID-19 in Shanghai, in the first reported deaths of the latest outbreak in China’s most populous and wealthiest city.
City Health Commission inspector Wu Ganyu said all three were elderly, had underlying diseases such as diabetes and hypertension and had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The deaths raise to 4,641 the number of deaths from COVID-19 China has reported 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" approach to eliminate the virus.