China reported on Monday three deaths from Covid-19 in Shanghai, the first officially announced since the start of containment at the end of March in the Chinese economic capital.
The Asian giant, which follows a zero Covid strategy, has so far officially recorded only 4,641 deaths linked to the coronavirus, initially discovered on its soil at the end of 2019.
In a statement posted on social media, Shanghai City Hall said the three deaths were of elderly people with underlying illnesses.
The two previous deaths announced in China had been announced in mid-March in Jilin province (northeast), bordering North Korea.
Shanghai is the scene of the worst virus contagion in China since the start of the epidemic, with tens of thousands of new cases announced daily.
Discontent in Shanghai
Its 25 million inhabitants have been placed in strict confinement since the end of March, many of them complaining, among other things, of problems with the supply of food in particular.
On Thursday, residents of Shanghai clashed with police officers who had come to force them to give up their apartments to isolate coronavirus-positive people there, according to several videos, a sign of growing discontent with the inflexible anti-Covid policy.
Authorities are isolating people who test positive, even asymptomatic ones, by placing them in quarantine centers. But with more than 20,000 new daily positive cases in recent days, they are struggling to keep up.