Two Covid-19 deaths reported in China since January

China confirmed two COVID-19 deaths in Jilin Province on Saturday. According to the Global Times, a Chinese news site, 1,674 COVID-19 cases were recorded in Jilin province on Friday. On Friday, the Chinese mainland recorded 2,157 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, a decrease from the previous day’s total of 2,388 cases.

According to Xinhua, quoting the National Health Commission, 199 new local illnesses were detected in Fujian, 69 in Liaoning, 47 in Guangdong, and 42 in Shandong.

The remaining instances were recorded in 15 different provinces, including Tianjin and Gansu. According to Xinhua, the commission recorded 71 imported COVID-19 cases on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, a video leaked showing hundreds of people in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen queuing to get tested for the virus.

The footage, supposedly from the Shenzhen neighbourhood of Shajing, also showed hundreds of ambulances allegedly removing COVID-19 victims from the city to temporary isolation centres. Shenzhen officials had previously enforced a one-week shutdown.

Meanwhile, China has begun searching for a way out of the Covid preventive policy, even as officials close down cities in the country’s biggest viral epidemic in two years, according to the Associated Press. The article stated that China is studying methods to gradually ease its zero-tolerance attitude, citing a study, interviews, and recent public messaging by government-affiliated public health specialists.