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Shanghai (AFP) – Shanghai added eight new victims of covid-19 on Thursday, raising the total death toll in this Chinese city where infections seem to be declining and some residents can finally go outside with a more relaxed confinement.
China’s most populous city and its main economic engine begins a reopening after weeks of harsh restrictions that have kept most of its 25 million inhabitants locked up at home.
With more than 400,000 infections since March, the city has only officially counted 25 victims of this covid outbreak driven by the contagious omicron variant, figures that some skeptics question.
The eight deceased reported on Thursday had an average age of 77.5 years and had previous pathologies such as malignant tumors or hypertension, according to municipal authorities.
The municipal government stated that the cause of death was “previous illness.”
In addition, the port metropolis registered 18,000 new cases on Thursday, most of them asymptomatic, and for the second day in a row it kept daily infections below 20,000.
The outbreak in Shanghai is the worst in China since the first wave was born in Wuhan and has tested the country’s uncompromising zero-Covid strategy, which seeks to eliminate infections with harsh lockdowns, mass testing and border closures.
The weeks of restrictions have hurt the economy and decimated the morale of residents, who denounced the difficulties in getting food or the strict policy of isolating those positive in quarantine centers.
Authorities have eased home confinement orders for some 12 million people, though some complained that officers in their areas wouldn’t let them out.
“Everyone has put up with a lot this time,” says Rui, a food company worker, who left his home in western Shanghai for the first time in 20 days.
Around him, some stores opened but only allowed customers to order from the door. A neighbor of hers set up a makeshift hair salon because there was no salon open in her area.
With the outbreak subsiding, the city is also trying to revive the economy by allowing production to resume at more than 600 companies this week, including Tesla and Volkswagen.
© 2022 AFP
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