Str | Afp | Getty Images BEIJING (Reuters) – The city of Shanghai on Monday reported the first Covid-related deaths since the latest wave of restrictions began in late March. Three people have died since Sunday, the city said, attributing the deaths to pre-existing health conditions. The official announcement states that all three people were elderly and had not been vaccinated against Covid-19. Beijing is trying to increase vaccination rates against Covid in the country’s elderly population. As of April 11, approximately 224.8 million people over the age of 60 had been vaccinated, according to the National Health Commission. That’s about 85% of the age group, based on a 2020 census that said the country has more than 260 million people over the age of 60. As of April 11, about 90.8% of the country’s 1.41 billion people had been vaccinated, according to the health committee. Jokingly, at least one neighborhood in the Beijing capital said that anyone over the age of 60 who received the first Covid vaccine could receive a reward of about $ 70 to $ 80. The latest Covid wave in China – the worst of the initial pandemic shock in early 2020 – began in late February and comes from the highly contagious omicron variant. The only other deaths officially reported in the last wave were two in the northern province of Jilin on March 18. As of Sunday, Shanghai reported 2,417 new confirmed cases of Covid with symptoms and 19,831 without. Shanghai, China’s largest city, launched a two-stage lockdown and massive virus tests in late March that were supposed to end in just over a week. However, municipal authorities have not yet set a date for when the extended travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders will expire. On Monday, the city said it would launch another round of mass testing for the virus, which will be completed on Thursday. In addition to Shanghai, mainland China reported about 300 new confirmed cases with symptoms as of Sunday, in areas ranging from Jilin to southern Guangdong Province. Beijing has reported three such cases.
