COVID Surge: China Reports First Deaths In More Than A Year With Two New Fatalities In Jilin Province

It’s the worst outbreak since late 2019 as officials have strengthened the zero-tolerance strategy to control the current surge

New Delhi: Two COVID-19 deaths were reported in China on Saturday as the most populated nation tackles fresh COVID-19 surge driven by the omicron variant.  

The country has registered its first COVID-19 deaths since January 2021, as per the Associated Press.

Both victims of COVID-19 have been reported in northeastern Jilin province. The fresh deaths have taken the country's coronavirus death toll to 4,638.

Coronavirus Surge In China

Around 2,157 fresh COVID-19 cases have been recorded from community transmission on Saturday and the maximum cases were reported in Jilin. The province has implemented a travel ban, and people are required to take permission from the police to travel across borders.

Around 4,636 people have succumbed to COVID-19 since the pandemic began in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. The death toll was revised in April 2020 as more casualties were reported after the cases engulfed the city's hospitals and other systems.

It’s the worst outbreak since late 2019 as officials strengthened the zero-tolerance strategy in the country to control the current surge.

Notably, Chinese President Xi Jinping also showed concern for the first time regarding the burden of the measures on Thursday, saying that China should seek “maximum effect” with “minimum cost” in controlling the virus.

According to Bloomberg, almost 90 per cent of China’s 1.4 billion people are fully vaccinated and more a third have received booster shots.

Even as the omicron cases appear asymptomatic, officials and health experts have raised concerns over inevitable deaths even from a less virulent variant as widespread infections keep hospitals and medical staff burdened.