Coronavirus: Shanghai reports first Covid-19 deaths just as city tiptoes towards business restarts on declining new cases

Three unvaccinated residents – all elderly, aged from 89 to 91 years, with underlying ailments – died, out of 372,000 infected cases since March 1

The number of new cases fell 10 per cent from Sunday to 22,248, while the number of symptomatic cases declined by 25 per cent to 2,417

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A medical worker conducts antigen testing for an elderly resident in Shanghai on Sunday, April 3, 2022. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Published: 9:32am, 18 Apr 2022Updated: 5:56pm, 18 Apr 2022

Shanghai reported the first fatalities from the city’s current wave of Covid-19, just as local authorities embarked on a plan to gradually restore production and business activity in China’s commercial centre after more than two weeks of lockdown.

New cases in Shanghai fell 10.4 per cent to 22,248, according to data released on Monday, while those showing symptoms declined by 25 per cent to 2,417 cases. The three deaths were among 16 “severe cases” of Covid-19 infections, all of them unvaccinated elderly residents with underlying ailments.

Declining daily cases for the second time in six successive days undergird the government’s push to restore transport links between provinces to ease the pressure on supply chains in the world’s second-largest economy.

At a weekly meeting of the State Council, Vice-Premier Liu He instructed that a nationally recognised Covid-19 test pass be issued to enable truck drivers to deliver raw materials, components, food and essential supplies between provinces without having to wait for results at every stop.

Community volunteers deliver boxes of food which are distributed by local governament to residents in a compound during a Covid-19 lockdown, in Pudong district in Shanghai on April 15, 2022. Photo: Agence France-Presse/ China OUT

“The cabinet’s promise to grant more passes to truck drivers will technically facilitate the resumption of manufacturing operations, as raw materials could be secured through a restored supply chain,” said the independent Shanghai analyst Gao Shen, speaking after China released data showing that the first-quarter economy expanded by 4.8 per cent.

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