SHANGHAI (AFP) – Shanghai reported 39 Covid deaths Sunday, its highest daily toll despite weeks of lockdowns, while China’s capital Beijing warned of a “grim” situation with rising infections.
The world’s second-largest economy has been struggling to stamp out its worst outbreak in two years with a playbook of harsh lockdowns and mass testing as it sticks to a strict zero-Covid policy, taking a heavy toll on businesses and public morale.
The cosmopolitan business hub of Shanghai has been almost entirely locked down since the start of the month, snarling supply chains, with many residents confined to their homes for even longer as it became the epicenter of the outbreak.
China’s biggest city announced its first fatalities from the outbreak on April 18, despite reporting thousands of cases each day in recent weeks.
It reported 39 more deaths on Sunday, National Health Commission data showed, bringing its total toll to 87, while the country logged nearly 22,000 new local virus cases.
Shanghai’s previous highest daily toll since lockdown was 12, reported a day earlier.
The city of 25 million has struggled to provide fresh food to those confined at home. Thousands of health staff were deployed for Covid testing and treatment.
Health officials have warned of the particular risks of Covid to the country’s older and largely unvaccinated population, saying the average age among fatalities in Shanghai’s outbreak was 81.
Five of those who died had been vaccinated, though authorities have said the deaths involved people who had severe underlying diseases and who were in critical condition.
Chinese health official Pang Xinghuo said Covid seems to be “spreading invisibly” within Beijing for a week now, affecting “schools, tour groups and many families”.
Beijing’s Municipal Party Committee member, Tian Wei, said, “The risk of continued and hidden transmission is high, and the situation is grim.”
“The whole city of Beijing must act immediately,” she added.
According to analysts, China’s lockdowns and, consequently, the shutdown of factories and the global shipping industry have left world manufacturers and retailers of commodities susceptible to a wave of shortages, resulting in rising prices.
With hundreds of cargo ships this week in line to enter Shanghai’s container hub, the world’s largest, congestion at major Chinese ports has doubled in the last month, causing rapidly rising knock-on delays of products and commodities worldwide.
Exports from Shanghai to Europe this week stood at 70 percent below the level at this time last year.