China said Monday that just three people have died from Covid-19 in Shanghai since a gruelling lockdown began last month, despite recording hundreds of thousands of cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant in the eastern megacity.

Authorities said the first deaths from China's biggest outbreak since the virus wave in Wuhan over two years ago were three people aged 89 to 91, all of whom had underlying health issues and had not received Covid vaccines.

Beijing insists that 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 with low vaccination rates among its vast elderly population. Shanghai health officials noted Sunday that less than two-thirds of residents over 60 had received two Covid jabs and less than 40 percent 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 Omicron first surged there in January.

The three reported victims in Shanghai "deteriorated into severe cases after going into hospital", according to a government account, with city health official Wu Qianyu telling a Monday press conference that "underlying disease" was the direct cause of death.

The eastern business hub has simmered under lockdowns since March, with many of its 25 million residents confined to their homes as daily caseloads have topped 25,000 -- a modest figure by global standards but virtually unheard of in China.

Many inhabitants have flooded social media with complaints of food shortages, spartan quarantine conditions and heavy-handed enforcement, circulating footage of rare protests faster than government censors can delete them.

But officials have vowed to continue isolating anyone who tests positive regardless of whether they show signs of the disease -- with asymptomatic infections accounting for nearly 90 percent of the more than 22,000 new local cases on Monday.

China last reported new Covid-19 deaths on March 19 -- two people in the northeastern rustbelt province of Jilin -- the first such acknowledged deaths in more than a year.

- Political play -

China's ruling Communist Party has touted its hardline pandemic approach as proof that it places human life above material concerns -- unlike many Western democracies, which it argues have sacrificed lives by failing to stop the virus.

Beijing has also acknowledged that dropping restrictions could let the pathogen run amok through its under-resourced healthcare system, potentially causing millions of deaths -- particularly among the elderly, who are at risk of developing more severe disease.

But experts say political considerations are also at play, with the party staking popular legitimacy on crushing emerging outbreaks in a year that will likely see President Xi Jinping secure a precedent-busting third term in office.

"This is a sensitive and critical year for the regime," said Lynette Ong, associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto.

"China has always given so much prominence to social stability, and a health crisis is a potentially big disrupter."

- Desperation -

Those concerns may have motivated officials in Shanghai to zealously implement curbs "to the point that it becomes silly", even as the highly transmissible Omicron strain refuses to be quelled, Ong said.

Videos on social media have illustrated creeping public desperation, with clips showing residents scuffling with hazmat-suited police and bursting through barricades demanding food.

Internet users have also blasted the filmed killing of a pet corgi by a health worker and a now-softened policy of separating infected children from their virus-free parents.

Other posts -- not verified by AFP -- and overseas media outlets have previously said that elderly patients in the city had died after contracting Covid-19 even as no fatalities appeared in official figures.

The United States Embassy in Beijing said Monday it had "reconfigured operations" to assist more than 40,000 Americans in its Shanghai consular district.

Chinese officials accused Washington of making "groundless accusations" about its Covid policy earlier this month after the surge prompted the consulate to evacuate non-essential staff.

Volunteer rescuers step in to save Shanghai's locked-down pets
Shanghai (AFP) April 18, 2022 - With quarantine looming after a positive Covid-19 test, Shanghai resident Sarah Wang said her first worry was who would look after her cat.

China's pursuit of "zero-Covid" means anyone who catches the virus is sent to central facilities, sometimes for weeks, leaving their pets at the mercy of local authorities.

Aside from fears the animals will be unfed or abandoned, a video showing a health worker in Shanghai bludgeoning a corgi dog to death this month caused uproar among residents -- with some taking matters into their own hands.

The clip created "pure panic", said Erin Leigh, the main organiser of an emergency rescue service that has been formed to help pets who could otherwise become casualties of the hardline virus approach.

In the last few weeks, Leigh, 33, has expanded her group from a pet-sitting firm to a network of thousands of unpaid volunteers.

The group has found Wang's fortunate feline a temporary home with a sitter across town.

The relieved financial worker told AFP her cat "wouldn't have survived my apartment being disinfected".

"Her conditions would have been pretty bleak without anyone coming to feed her," the 28-year-old said.

"For some pets in the city, it comes down to life or death," said Leigh, adding that owners felt "helpless".

Across China, local governments' urgency to stamp out every virus case has pushed animal well-being down the list of authorities' priorities.

In January, Hong Kong culled around 2,000 hamsters after one tested positive for Covid-19, and at least three cats and a dog were among animals killed by health workers in the mainland last year.

After the recent video of the corgi killing, Leigh said she has been inundated with pleas from owners "desperate to get their animals saved".

"People are like, 'Get my dog to safety. I don't even want it in my house.'"

- 'Help needed' -

Pet ownership in China has ballooned in recent years, particularly in cosmopolitan hubs like Shanghai.

The financial centre has been at the heart of China's worst Covid-19 outbreak since the peak of the first virus wave in Wuhan over two years ago, and has been under a patchwork of lockdown restrictions since March which has left most of its 25 million residents confined to their homes.

As Shanghai officials ramped up control measures, Leigh and others mobilised online to share information about the pets left behind when people were taken into centralised quarantine.

A handful of administrators work day and night to record cases of distressed animals, classifying them by location and noting those that most urgently need food, shelter or other care.

The network then raises the alarm on social media, sharing "help needed" posters in both Chinese and English until a saviour is found.

They also connect owners and sitters with homebound vets "so they can all help each other in case there are any medical emergencies", said volunteer Joey Ang, a 20-year-old student from Singapore.

The team has aided hundreds of cats and dogs -- plus a few birds, fish and snakes.

Evacuated pets must be steered through the often-baffling lockdown restrictions, sometimes travelling hours to reach short-term homes just a few streets away.

- Hungry huskies -

In one memorable example, volunteers rallied to bring food to a locked-down pet shop housing around 50 hungry huskies, Leigh said.

But the road to freedom is rarely smooth in a city where officials sweat over the potential consequences of bending vaguely defined lockdown rules.

Security guards often get jittery about carrying disinfected crates containing animals into and out of housing compounds -- a key step in the process as most residents in lockdown can't leave their apartment complexes, volunteers said.

And drivers have jacked up fees for ferrying pets.

Rescuers this week spent an hour and a half transferring a dog from its owner's apartment to another block just 600 metres (0.4 miles) away, according to Leigh.

A "carrot-and-stick" approach is often key to making officials "consider the negative reaction if the pet comes to any harm," said Ocean Zhang, who helped negotiate the canine's release.

"There is strength in numbers. If we continue to work together, then even emergencies... can be resolved within a couple of hours."

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

COVID-19 subvariant Omicron XE emerges in Australia
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 15, 2021
A new COVID-19 subvariant known as Omicron XE has emerged in Australia, officials confirmed Friday. New South Wales health authorities said that the first reported case was confirmed when a traveler returned from overseas last week. XE is a combination of previous variants, BA.1 and BA.2, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said in a YouTube video this week about the development. Australian authorities on Monday lifted restrictions on travelers that required ma ... read more