“Zero COVID” in China: Despite restrictions, death toll grows in Shanghai and Beijing will conduct mass tests

The National Health Commission of China announced on Monday the death of 51 people from covid in the eastern metropolis of Shanghai, bringing the total death toll since the beginning of the epidemic in China to 4,776.

The city has a total of 138 deaths since the confinement began more than a month ago as a result of an abrupt increase in cases.

China, which is pursuing a severe “zero tolerance” policy towards the new coronavirus, is experiencing a wave of outbreaks attributed to the omicron variant that is causing record numbers of infections not seen since the start of the pandemic in the first half of 2020.

Thus, the Commission today reported 2,680 new positive cases of the coronavirus detected the day before, 2,666 of them due to local contagion and the rest, imported.

The localities with the highest number of cases of community transmission were Shanghai (east, 2,472), Jilin (northeast, 79), Heilongjiang (northeast, 26) and the capital, Beijing (north, 14).

Health authorities also today reported the detection of 17,581 asymptomatic cases, 17,528 of them local (most of them in Shanghai), although Beijing does not count them as confirmed cases unless they manifest symptoms.

The remaining infections, found among travelers from abroad, were detected in various regions of the country.

The total number of active infected persons in mainland China is 29,178, 274 of them in serious condition.

According to the institution's accounts, since the beginning of the pandemic, 203,334 people were infected in the country and 4,776 died.

To date, more than three million close contacts with infected persons have been monitored by medical follow-up, of which 435,378 remain under observation.

THE SITUATION IN BEIJING

Today, Beijing began mass testing and closing housing estates to prevent the spread of covid in the Chinese capital.

Now, the total number of active symptomatic infections in mainland China stands at 29,178 and concern has spread in Beijing, where its largest district, Chaoyang, which concentrates from embassies to business skyscrapers, has required those who live or work in the area to undergo three nucleic acid tests this week .

On the streets of the district, kilometre queues were formed today to take the test at the checkpoints designated for this purpose, and some urbanizations have also been closed 'de facto'.

The fear that the Chinese capital will end up confined again or that it will reach Shanghai levels has led to massive purchases in supermarkets - leaving some of them completely empty - and advice on social media on what to buy in the event of widespread quarantine.

The city has also suspended tourist groups as of this Monday - less than a week of four holidays for the May 1 bridge - and demanded that travel agencies reimburse the amount of travel packages.

Despite the high transmissibility of the omicron variant, China continues to apply its strict “zero tolerance” policy to stop this latest wave of cases, which is causing record numbers of infections not seen since the start of the pandemic.

However, outbreaks are very different from the first outbreak recorded in China in the city of Wuhan, when the mortality rate exceeded 5%, as Chinese epidemiologist Zhang Wenhong explained yesterday on state television: “The death rate in Shanghai remains at 0.178%,” said Zhang.

The official press acknowledges that “China has witnessed a prominent increase in outbreaks throughout the country”, with more than 500,000 infections since March, despite which the country must “insist on the policy of 'covid zero' and ensure the health of the population to the greatest extent possible”.

According to the Global Times newspaper today, “we must act” and “be as fast as possible” to prevent the spread of the virus, something that, the newspaper emphasizes, cities like Canton achieved after detecting their first cases.

” A total lockdown can only be started when the spread is at an advanced stage or if it is detected early but not decisively controlled. We must be incisive and identify the sources of infection in time to avoid upsurges”, says the newspaper.

(with information from EFE)

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