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Shanghai reports first Covid-19 deaths since start of lockdown
The Arab News reported, citing the AFP, Shanghai on Monday (Apr 18) said three people had died from Covid-19, the first official announcement of deaths from an outbreak which has plunged the megacity into a weeks-long lockdown, sparking widespread anger and rare protests.
Since March, a patchwork of restrictions has kept most of the city’s 25 million residents confined to their homes or compounds, with daily caseloads regularly edging over 25,000.
On Monday city officials revealed the first deaths — all elderly people with underlying conditions.
The city said on an official social media account, they “deteriorated into severe cases after going into hospital, and died after all efforts to revive them proved ineffective."
The statement said two of the dead were women aged 89 and 91, while the third was a 91-year-old man. The municipal health commission confirmed the deaths.
The eastern business hub posted 22,248 new domestic cases on Monday, according to the municipal health commission.
While relatively low compared to other global outbreaks, the figures extend the pattern of recent weeks which has seen the city log tens of thousands of daily cases, most of which are asymptomatic.
China imposes massive lockdown on millions of Shanghai residents
In response, authorities have doubled down on Beijing’s longstanding zero-tolerance approach to the virus, vowing to persist with onerous curbs on movement and isolating anyone who tests positive — even if they show no signs of illness.
Residents in Shanghai — one of China’s wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities — have chafed under the restrictions, with many complaining of food shortages, spartan quarantine conditions and heavy-handed enforcement.
Social media users ripped into authorities for 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.
Nearly 30 million people under lockdown across China as Covid-19 surges
In a rare glimpse into the discontent, videos posted online last week showed some residents scuffling with hazmat-suited police ordering them to surrender their homes to patients.
Other footage and audio clips have indicated increasing desperation, including some showing people bursting through barricades demanding food.
Despite the blowback, China, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, is sticking to its tried-and-tested zero-Covid policy of mass testing, travel restrictions and targeted lockdowns.
China reports its first COVID-19 deaths in more than a year on Saturday
But the world’s most populous nation has recently struggled to contain outbreaks in multiple regions, largely driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant.
The country last reported new Covid-19 deaths on March 19 — two people in the northeastern rust belt province of Jilin — the first such deaths in more than a year.
Source: arabnews
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Amid growing anxiety among several European countries participating in NATO over Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated he looks forward to sitting down with Trump.
Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.
Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.
On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.
It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.
Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.
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