Hong Kong, Europe Brief News – A total lockdown was declared in Shanghai over the fresh surge of Covid cases.
As a result, 25 million people will be subject to indefinite stay-at-home orders.
Shanghai is the largest single city living under a total lockdown to date.
The important financial hub has battled a new wave of coronavirus infections for more than a month.
Reported cases have risen to more than 13,000 a day, although the numbers are not high by some international standards.
Residents said the strict policy meant no-one can leave their housing compounds, not even to collect essential provisions.
They reported difficulties in ordering food and water online, with restrictions on when customers are able to place their orders, because of a shortage of supplies and delivery staff.
The country has largely kept the virus at bay since it brought to heal its initial outbreak using targeted lockdowns.
However, the Omicron strain of COVID-19 has taken hold in multiple cities across China.
Firs Covid Death Reported
Last week, China reported its first two COVID-19 deaths in more than a year. The deaths, both in Jilin province, bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638 since the start of the pandemic.
Both fatalities occurred in elderly patients and were the result of their underlying conditions, Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission, told a news briefing on Saturday.
The deaths bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638.
The country where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019 has largely curbed its spread thanks to a combination of border controls, lengthy quarantines and strict lockdowns targeted mostly on buildings where cases have been confirmed.
With the Omicron variant proving the biggest test yet of the country’s “zero-COVID” strategy, tens of millions of people across the country are living under stay-home orders.
