Shanghai, April 18 : Shanghai on Monday for the first time officially reported three Covid deaths due to Omicron outbreak despite the government-enforced city-wide lockdown. According to the Shanghai M cipal Health Commission, three unvaccinated elderly people having underlying health conditions between 89 and 91-year-old died on Sunday after their condition deteriorated in hospital. The city has so far reported 2,417 symptomatic and 19,831 asymptomatic cases. According to CNN, Shanghai’s low official death toll has raised questions among some experts outside mainland China, especially given the vaccination coverage among the elderly in Shanghai is not that much higher than that of Hong Kong. Shanghai officials said 62 per cent of its residents aged over 60 had been fully vaccinated, and 38 per cent had received the booster shot. Jin Dongyan, a virologist at the versity of Hong Kong, said, “The methods used by Hong Kong and the mainland to calculate deaths are completely different. Over 90 per cent of the Covid deaths reported in Hong Kong will not be counted on the mainland.” According to CNN, this is only the second time mainland China has reported Covid deaths this year as the northeastern province of Jilin reported two deaths last month. RNJ