China confirms 2 COVID fatalities, first in over a year as country battles fresh outbreak

At a time most of the world is steadily returning to normalcy after two years of the COVID pandemic, China is seeing a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus, prompting Beijing to impose stringent measures, including lockdowns. In the latest update to the country's COVID scenario, China's national health authorities announced that two COVID-19 fatalities have been recorded on Saturday, considering it to be the first spike in the death toll since January 2021.

China, which has seen an increase in coronavirus instances, recorded 2,157 locally transmitted infections on Friday, the National Health Commission reported on Saturday. Further, both the deaths, which occurred in northeastern Jilin province, bring the total number of coronavirus deaths in China to 4,638.  

According to Xinhua, 1,674 new local cases were detected in Jilin province, while, 199 cases in Fujian and 69 in Liaoning. Guangdong confirmed 47 COVID instances and Shandong has 42. The other instances were recorded in 15 other provincial-level locations, including Tianjin and Gansu.  The commission has even highlighted that a total of 71 imported COVID-19 instances were recorded on Friday. 

Lockdowns imposed as Chian sees spike in COVID cases

As the country experiences the largest flare-up of the outbreak in two years, the Xi Jinping administration has been obliged to reimpose lockdown on the COVID-19 hotspots. According to media reports, lockdowns have been imposed in as many as 19 Chinese provinces. The recent surge of asymptomatic cases has prompted the shutdown of schools in Shanghai and other Chinese cities in the north-east. Since March 1, Changchun, a city of nine million people, has been under unprecedented lockdown. 

Apart from schools, restaurants, malls, other public locations in China have also been subjected to restrictions. Malls and businesses in Shanghai, China's most populated metropolis and global financial center, were also suspended. 

Furthermore, following the tightened restrictions in some areas of Shanghai, locals became infuriated, who was already irritated by the government's lack of sensitivity. On March 14, a video was broadcast on a Chinese Twitter account that showed Shanghai people being trapped in a certain area, using a megaphone to voice their concerns, ANI reported. 

China’s worsening COVID situation surfaced when hundreds of people were seen in Shenzhen, China's southern city, waiting in massive queues to get tested for the coronavirus. Videos of individuals waiting in long lines for their turn to undertake mandatory coronavirus testing appeared on social media. Adults were asked to do three PCR tests, while non-essential staff were told to stay at home, according to ANI. 

In addition to this, as the Chinese government has placed tight limitations as part of its "zero-tolerance" policy in order to prevent a broader spread, COVID restrictions have been put on ports and many industrial locations in China which has impacted China's economy and GDP, as per media reports. 

China discovered many pneumonia-like cases in late December 2019

In late December 2019, Wuhan health officials discovered many pneumonia-like cases with no recognised reason. According to a report by Statista, the Huanan Seafood Market was linked to the majority of these patients. The rate of infection had risen to over 10 thousand by the end of January 2020. A few days later, the COVID deaths in China surpassed that of the SARS pandemic. Thousands more instances were identified in Wuhan on February 12.  

Further, China's National Health Commission stated on 31 March 2020 that it would commence publishing the number of symptom-free people who tested positive for coronavirus. Wuhan's health officials amended their death toll on 17 April 2020, adding 50% additional fatalities. On 18 March 2020, the government had reported no new local COVID-19 transmissions for the first time since quarantine restrictions were established. 

Currently, as per Worldometers, over 128,462 individuals have been affected by the disease in the nation since the outbreak.

(Image: AP/Pixabay)