Shanghai Adds 11 Deaths And Over 17,000 Covid Cases

Shanghai on Friday reported 11 more Covid-related deaths and over 17,000 new local infections, as authorities doubled down on their efforts to fight the outbreak by launching a new round of city-wide testing.

The new cases comprise of 1,931 symptomatic cases and 15,698 asymptomatic cases. That compares with 2,830 symptomatic cases and 16,552 asymptomatic cases the day before.

The city’s death toll in the latest wave of infections now stands at 36.

The commercial hub of 26 million people has remained locked down since early April.

On its official Wechat account, the Shanghai government said the battle to attain zero-Covid has come to a critical stage, adding that the city's epidemic situation is showing a positive trend.

It said Shanghai can be reopened in stages when it achieves community zero-Covid while continuing to maintain effective control measures.

At a press conference, vice mayor Zhang Wei said 70 percent of 666 key enterprises had successfully resumed operations.

He said SAIC Motor, Tesla and other automotive companies have been able to conduct end-of-line testing, the last checkpoint before a product leaves the factory, adding that related business providing car parts have also gradually resumed work.

“We believe that as the virus situation improves, more businesses are bound to resume work and production. We believe that the pathway explored by the first batch of key businesses in coordinating infection control and business operations will provide useful experience for more businesses to resume work and production,” Zhang said.

Meanwhile, the National Health Commission reported 2,119 symptomatic cases and 16,383 asymptomatic cases nationwide, with Jilin and Jiangsu provinces among the places seeing new infections.