Shanghai reports more deaths as COVID-19 toll rises

SHANGHAI: China reported seven new deaths from COVID-19 in Shanghai on Tuesday (Apr 19), raising the official toll after hundreds of thousands of cases in the metropolis during a weeks-long lockdown.

City authorities revealed the first virus deaths on Monday, with Tuesday's fatalities bringing the total official toll to just 10, despite the scale of the outbreak.

Beijing insists its zero-COVID policy of hard lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines has averted fatalities and the public health crises that have engulfed much of the rest of the world.

But some have cast doubt on official figures in a nation whose vast elderly population has a low vaccination rate. Shanghai health officials noted Sunday that less than two-thirds of residents over 60 had received two COVID-19 jabs and less than 40 per cent had received a booster.

Unverified social media posts have also claimed unreported deaths - typically before being scrubbed from the internet. Hong Kong, meanwhile, has attributed nearly 9,000 deaths to COVID-19 since the Omicron variant surged there in January.