China Sticks to Covid Zero Policy to Fight 4th Wave

China will stick to its Covid Zero policy as it tries to fight its worst outbreak in 2 years, said Liang Wannian, head of the National Health Commission’s Covid response team. Authorities have imposed more lockdowns over the past week than at any time in the pandemic, including in Langfang, a city in Hebei province, and in the province of Jilin.

China reported its first Covid-19 deaths since January 2021 as the omicron variant continued to spread across the world’s most-populous nation.

The two deaths were both reported in Jilin on Friday, the National Health Commission said in a statement. Both were older than 60 and had serious underlying conditions, with one of them unvaccinated, an official with the commission said at a briefing Saturday.

Their Covid symptoms were mild, with the underlying diseases being the direct cause of death, she said.

Although there have been repeated flareups and outbreaks in China despite the country’s tight curbs -- first against the delta variant, then omicron -- few of those infected had been seriously sick since mid-2021. Many who developed severe symptoms survived, even patients above the age of 60 and those with other underlying diseases.

China has reported fewer than 5,000 deaths throughout the entire coronavirus pandemic, with most occurring when the virus first emerged from Wuhan in early 2020. Stringent curbs and mass testing have helped officials stymie Covid’s spread and identify cases early, while many were sent to designated hospitals for treatment regardless of the severity of their illness.

Nearly 90% of China’s 1.4 billion people fully vaccinated and more a third having received booster shots, and omicron appears increasingly as asymptomatic infections.

Still, officials and health experts have warned about inevitable deaths even from a less virulent variant as widespread infections keep hospitals and medical staff stretched.

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