China has reported its first Covid-19 deaths in over a year, the country’s National Health Commission confirmed on Saturday (March 19, 2022).
The deaths, both in northeastern Jilin province, has taken China’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638. The country had reported two deaths for the whole of 2021, with the last one logged on January 25.
China, which is witnessing a record surge in Covid-19 cases, reported 2,157 new infections from community transmission on Saturday, with the majority in Jilin. The province, notably, has instituted a travel ban, with people needing permission from the police to travel across borders.
China has now reported more local symptomatic Covid-19 cases so far this year than it recorded in all of 2021. Since the pandemic began in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, China has so far confirmed over 1,28,400 cases.
Significantly, China is experiencing its biggest spikes in coronavirus cases in recent weeks just as the rest of the world is opening up with a drastic fall of infections.