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Two die of Covid amid Omicron-driven surge in China
Both deaths were reported from the northeastern province of Jilin, the epicentre of the ongoing outbreak, which has spread in more than 20 provinces and dozens of cities, putting tens of millions of people under lockdowns.
China reported two Covid-19 deaths on Saturday, the first since January 2021 as health authorities across the country battle a surge of fresh cases driven by the Omicron variant.
Both deaths were reported from the northeastern province of Jilin, the epicentre of the ongoing outbreak, which has spread in more than 20 provinces and dozens of cities, putting tens of millions of people under lockdowns.
The deaths, both in Jilin province, bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638. China reported only two Covid-19-related deaths for all of 2021, the last on January 25.
The vast majority of Covid-19 deaths in China occurred in the weeks after the virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late, 2019.
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Besides the two deaths, the mainland reported 3,870 Covid-19 cases including 2,157 locally transmitted symptomatic cases for Friday, the national health commission (NHC) said in its daily bulletin on Saturday.
Majority of the cases were reported from Jilin, a province bordering Russia and North Korea of over 24 million people, who have been sealed off from the rest of China.
Since March 1, the mainland has logged more than 22,000 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases.
That may be low compared to other Covid-19 hotspots globally but the new numbers have put question marks on China maintaining its zero-tolerance approach using the “dynamic clearance” policy - short, targeted shutdowns and rapid tests where cases are found.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday talked, for the first time, about the burden of the measures, saying that China should seek “maximum effect” with “minimum cost” in controlling the virus.
Xi called for “…maintaining strategic focus, pursuing progress while ensuring stability, coordinating Covid-19 response with economic and social development, adopting more effective measures, striving to achieve the best results in epidemic control with minimum costs, and minimising the epidemic’s impact on the economic and social development”.
The first casualties in more than a year quickly caught the social media spotlight. “Two new Covid deaths in Jilin” was a top trending topic on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, according to Reuters news agency, with many expressing a desire for more information on the two victims.
“For what reason did this (the deaths) happen? (the details) should be released in a timely way,” said one social media user.
As of March 18, mainland China had confirmed 128,462 cases overall.
