China has reported seven more deaths from Covid-19 in Shanghai, after hundreds of thousands of cases in the metropolis during a weeks-long lockdown.
City authorities revealed the first deaths of this outbreak yesterday, with today's fatalities bringing the official toll to just 10, even as the virus continues to spread.
Beijing insists its zero-Covid policy of hard lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines has averted fatalities and the public health crises that have engulfed much of the rest of the world.
But some have cast doubt on official figures in a nation where the vast elderly population has a low vaccination rate. By comparison, Hong Kong, which also has a high number of unvaccinated elderly, has tallied nearly 9,000 deaths among 1.18 million Covid-19 cases since the Omicron variant surged there in January.