China shifts Covid-19 focus to Beijing outbreak as Shanghai cases fall to 21-day low while fatalities increase

New Covid-19 cases in Shanghai fell for the third consecutive day to the lowest in three weeks as China’s anti-pandemic focus shifts to Beijing where daily infections have set a record.

New infections dropped 12.7 per cent in Shanghai to 16,980, while cases with symptoms declined by about a third to 1,661 and fatalities reached 52, according to data released on Tuesday. That raised the total infections to 522,000 since March 1 in the city of 25 million residents.