China reports first Covid-19 deaths in more than a year
Agencies | Beijing
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
China’s health authorities reported two COVID-19 deaths, the first since January 2021, as the country battles its worst outbreak in two years driven by a surge in the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The deaths, both in northeastern China’s Jilin province, bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638.
Three-fourths of the new 2,157 community transmissions came from Jilin. The province has imposed a travel ban, with people needing permission from the police to travel across borders, the AP reported.
China has reported more than 29,000 cases since the beginning of March, including those without symptoms.
While China has explored easing its pandemic response, it has pressed on with its lockdown policies and mass testing of millions of people as part of a successful “zero-COVID” strategy since the initial outbreak in Wuhan in 2019.
The country has seen relatively few infections from the virus as clusters decreased as quickly as discovered.
The strategy has received popular support and prevented the large numbers of deaths seen in other countries.
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