Shanghai faces danger of spike in severe Covid cases

Experts in China have warned that severe cases and deaths in Shanghai are likely to spike in the coming days, given the city's low vaccination rate among the elderly, state media reported on Thursday. Shanghai reported eight more COVID-19 patient deaths, adding to a total number of 25 amid this around of Omicron outbreak since March, while it has registered 139 severe cases and 20 critical cases so far.

Shanghai on Thursday reported nearly 18500 new infections including more than 2600 symptomatic cases, bringing the city’s total cases to 424,000 since March 1. Also, over 20,000 persons have been discharged from the hospitals or released from medical observation on Wednesday.

State media quoting Lu Hongzhou, head of Shenzhen's anti-epidemic expert team reported that the number of COVID-19 patients and deaths will continue to increase in the short term as the number of the infected COVID-19 patients in the city is relatively large.

Positive patients with underlying medical conditions, especially elderly people, are at high risk of severe illness, a health



authority said, noting that special monitoring and early warning should be strengthened, and early intervention should be conducted to prevent mild cases from turning into severe ones during treatment.

So far, 62 percent of the city's 3.6 million elderly - aged 60 and above, has been vaccinated, 38 percent of them have taken a booster vaccination. This vaccination rate is relatively low compared to other cities and regions, according to the authorities. In comparison, 80 per cent of those aged above 60 in Beijing have been fully vaccinated. Nationwide, the rate of fully vaccinated people aged above 60 amounts to 79 per cent.

Meanwhile, local media reported, Chinese doctors raise doubts over the Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment’s effectiveness and question why millions of capsules were delivered to a city desperate for other supplies and food deliveries to the people in lockdown. The remedy is recommended in China’s national guidelines, but doctors warn it could cause stomach and kidney problems in healthy people.