BEIJING, April 18, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Shanghai reported the first Covid
deaths since the start of its weeks-long lockdown, three elderly people with
underlying conditions, the city government said Monday.

  "The three people deteriorated into severe cases after going into hospital,
and died after all efforts to revive them proved ineffective," the city said
on social media.

  The deceased included two women aged 89 and 91, and a man aged 91, the city
said, adding that they all had a variety of underlying health complaints such
as coronary heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

  Shanghai, China's largest city, has stewed under a patchwork of lockdown
restrictions this year amid the country's worst Covid-19 outbreak since the
start of the pandemic.

  The eastern business hub posted 22,248 new domestic cases on Monday, of
which 2,417 were symptomatic, according to the municipal health commission.

  China, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, has largely
slowed new cases to a trickle thanks to a zero-Covid policy of mass testing,
travel restrictions and targeted lockdowns.

  But the world's most populous nation has recently struggled to contain
outbreaks in multiple regions, largely driven by the fast-spreading Omicron
variant.

  The country last reported new Covid deaths on March 19, two people in the
northeastern rust belt province of Jilin -- the first such deaths in more
than a year.