Shanghai authorities announced 12 deaths due to COVID-19 yesterday, April 22, up from 11 a day earlier, while residents appear increasingly discouraged amid a harsh lockdown and strict Internet censorship.
The city, which is facing China's biggest outbreak of coronavirus so far, recorded 20,634 asymptomatic cases of transmission in the community yesterday, up from 15,698 a day earlier. The number of new cases with symptoms rose to 2,736 yesterday from 1,931 the day before yesterday, April 21, according to official figures.
The median age of the patients who ended up being 88 years old, according to Shanghai authorities. All had underlying diseases and were unvaccinated.
"One strategy that needs immediate implementation is to increase booster vaccination rates in the elderly and other vulnerable groups and see if mRNA vaccines can be used," said Jaya Dantas, a public health specialist at the School of Public Health at Curtin University in Australia, who is monitoring the outbreak in Shanghai.
China does not yet have its own mRNA vaccines and has chosen not to import those developed overseas.
In a study published yesterday by the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control, health experts in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin, where another coronavirus outbreak is being detected, said Chinese vaccines have so far been effective although the emergence of new COVID-19 strains remains unpredictable. As they stated, "the evidence is strong enough to suggest the public importance of a strategy of full and booster vaccination, especially for older citizens."
Increasing pressure
Although frustration continues to prevail in Shanghai's blockaded housing estates, local officials say there will be no further relaxation until new cases outside quarantine areas are zeroed out. "The more critical the period becomes, the more we need to grit our teeth and gather our strength," Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng told the official WeChat channel of local authorities.
The number of cases outside quarantine areas yesterday stood at 218 from 250 a day earlier. The universal lockdown in Shanghai city began in early April, though many residents have been confined to their homes for much longer. But despite having been under lockdown for more than 30 days, some housing estates are recording new cases, raising doubts about the effectiveness of China's approach.Clashes in Shanghai, China, over Covid lockdown evictions Without food
"It's a long time and, indeed, it has two effects on mental health: people are exhausted and discouraged," Dantas said.
On social media, users are trying to circumvent censorship to post a six-minute video titled "The Voice of April," which features voices recorded during the outbreak in Shanghai. In the video, which includes images of Shanghai's silent skyscrapers, residents can be heard complaining about food and medicine shortages and the strict policies of the city authorities. All references to the video were removed from the Weibo platform by this morning, although some comments criticizing the censorship managed to survive.
"I can only say that if you don't even want to hear just a few real voices, then it's really disheartening," one user said.
Source: protothema.gr
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