By The Associated Press via
NBC
Chinese health authorities reported two deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday, the first recorded increase in the death toll since January 2021, as the country battles the wave of the omicron variant.
The deaths, both in the northeastern province of Jilin, bring the country's death toll from coronavirus to 4,638.
China reported 2,157 new cases of community transmission on Saturday, the majority in Jilin.
Travel is prohibited in the province and people now need a permit from the police to cross the borders.
[The WHO tracks deltacron, the delta variant with the omicron invisibility cloak]
China has imposed a successful, albeit strict, 'zero-COVID-19' strategy since the initial outbreak in Wuhan.
The measure focuses on mass testing, business closures and a ban on residents leaving their homes until all new cases are quarantined or traced through contact tracing.
Workers wearing face shields and masks prepare to clear snow outside a hotel intended for quarantines of those infected. Andy Wong / AP
In practice, the measure has allowed few infections to occur because groups with new cases are controlled as quickly as they are discovered.
The strategy has received popular support and has averted the large number of deaths seen in other countries
, many of which have begun to forgo any kind of social distancing measures.
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As China faces its worst outbreak since late 2019, authorities have vowed to double down on a zero-tolerance strategy to contain the current surge.
However, Chinese leader Xi Jinping first acknowledged the weight of the measures on Thursday, saying China must seek "maximum effect" at "least cost" to control the virus.
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The country had recorded 4,636 deaths since the pandemic began in the city of Wuhan at the end of 2019. However, it revised its death toll in April 2020 and added new deaths that were not initially counted as the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals. and other city systems.
Mainland China's COVID-19 data is counted separately from Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China and is facing a much larger outbreak with a higher death toll.
