BEIJING — Shanghai city reported Monday its first Covid-related deaths since the latest wave of lockdowns began in earnest in late March.

The city announced that three people had died on Sunday. They were all attributed to their pre-existing medical conditions. According to the official announcement, all three of those who died were old and not protected against Covid-19.

Beijing is trying increase Covid vaccinations among China’s aged population. The National Health Commission reported that approximately 224.8 millions people aged 60 and older had been immunized as of April 11.

This is approximately 85% of those in the older age group, according to a 2020 census which found that there were more than 260million people above 60 years old. The health commission reported that 90.8% (or 1.41 billion) of country’s 1.41 trillion people were vaccinated as of April 11th.

A local neighborhood of Beijing claimed that anyone who gets the Covid shot first time could get a reward in the amount of $70-$80.

The latest Covid wave in China — the worst since the initial shock of the pandemic in early 2020 — began in late February and stems from the highly transmissible omicron variant. Two deaths were reported from the north province of Jilin, on March 18, as the only official death in this latest wave.

Shanghai reports 2,417 Covid confirmed cases of symptoms in Sunday’s report, and 19,831 with no symptoms.

Shanghai, China’s largest city,In late March, a mass lockdown began and virus testing was conducted in two stages. It was expected to be completed within a little over one week. However, municipal officials have not yet set a date when travel restrictions will be lifted and stay-at-home orders will cease.

The city announced Monday that it will begin another round in mass virus testing. This test is scheduled to conclude Thursday.

China has reported another 300 confirmed new cases outside of Shanghai. They were found in areas ranging from Jilin, Guangdong, and Guangdong. Beijing has reported three of these cases.