China reports first COVID-19 deaths since January 2021

People line up outside a vaccination site after the city started offering booster shots of the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to vaccinated residents, in Beijing, China October 29, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang - RC2IJQ9GGNYU

Beijing: China on Saturday reported two COVID-19 deaths in Jilin Province.

A total number of 1,674 COVID-19 cases were reported on Friday in Jilin province, according to Global Times, a Chinese media outlet.

China mainland on Friday reported 2,157 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, comparatively lower than Thursday’s 2,388 cases.

Of the new local infections, 199 in Fujian, 69 in Liaoning, 47 in Guangdong, and 42 in Shandong respectively, Xinhua reported citing National Health Commission.

The rest of the cases were reported in 15 other provincial-level regions, including Tianjin and Gansu.
A total of 71 imported COVID-19 cases were reported Friday, said the commission, as per Xinhua.

Earlier, a video surfaced on Thursday showing hundreds of people standing in queues to get tested for the virus in the Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The video purportedly from the locality of Shajing in Shenzhen also showed dozens of ambulances that were claimed to be transporting COVID-19 patients from the city to makeshift isolation centres.

Shenzhen officials had earlier imposed a lockdown for one week.