China's major financial hub of Shanghai reported 12 new COVID-19-related deaths on Friday, up from 11 the previous day, the municipal health commission said Saturday.

The average age of the deceased was 88, the health commission said. All had underlying health conditions, which is also a cause of their death. None was vaccinated.

The city, battling China's biggest coronavirus outbreak, reported 2,736 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Friday, up from 1,931 on the previous day and 20,634 local asymptomatic carriers, rebounding from 15,698 a day earlier, according to the official data.

The new cases were located mainly in closed-off management and restrictive control areas and centralized isolation points, the health commission said.

One reason cited by authorities for the increase in recent COVID-19 cases is the communal sharing of bathrooms and kitchens, especially in some old residential areas. Another is clustered epidemics at construction sites and enterprises.

Shanghai started a series of new measures on Friday to cut off COVID-19 transmission chains as soon as possible.

Tiered community control measures will be carried out to minimize the movement and gathering of people, according to the arrangements announced by the municipal committee of the Communist Party of China and the local government.

Shanghai will also adopt COVID-19 testing and screening policies tailored to different communities.

Officials have divided the city into three areas – closed-off management, restrictive control and prevention – as part of targeted efforts to overcome the recent virus resurgence. 

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