BEIJING—China’s health authorities reported two Covid-19 deaths on Saturday, the first since January 2021, as the country battles its worst outbreak in two years driven by a surge in the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The deaths, both in northeastern China’s Jilin province, bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638.
Three-fourths of the new 2,157 community transmissions reported Saturday came from Jilin. The province has imposed a travel ban, with people needing permission from police to travel across borders. While China has explored easing its pandemic response, it has pressed on with its tried-and-true policy of lockdowns and mass testing of millions of people as part of a successful, if burdensome, “zero-Covid” strategy since the initial outbreak in Wuhan in 2019.
Faced with the worst surge since late 2019, officials have vowed to double down on the zero-tolerance strategy to contain multiple outbreaks across China. However, leader Xi Jinping acknowledged for the first time the burden of the measures on Thursday, saying that China should seek “maximum effect” with “minimum cost” in controlling the virus.
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