Shanghai Reports More Deaths Amid Fall In Covid Tally

Shanghai on Thursday reported eight more Covid-related deaths as it reported around 18,500 new local infections.

Officials said the deceased patients – the oldest of them aged 93 – had other illnesses, such as cerebral haemorrhage, coronary heart disease and kidney failure.

"The direct causes of their deaths were their underlying diseases," said Wu Qianyu from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission.

She added that six of the patients were unvaccinated.

The city's death toll from the current outbreak stood at 25.

It reported 18,495 new local infections – down around 400 from the previous day.

Of the new cases, 15,861 were asymptomatic while 2,634 were symptomatic.

Wu said authorities had issued a notice banning hospitals from turning away patients without a negative Covid test result.

"Various levels of medical organisations... must not shirk responsibilities or delay treatment [for patients]," she said.

"For patients who can't prove they are not infected with Covid but need urgent treatment or hospitalisation, the institutes have to set up a buffer zone... and test them quickly with PCR or antigen tests while treating them."

Other parts of the mainland, meanwhile, recorded a total of 887 local infections, with Jilin province accounting for 356 of the cases and 12 from Guangdong.