Chinese authorities apologized on Thursday after the death of a 3-year-old boy deprived of care due to draconian health measures against Covid-19. This so-called zero covid policy leads to solitary confinement as soon as positive cases appear, mass testing but also lockdowns in varying degrees of neighborhoods or even entire cities.
Many residents complain about these unexpected measures, which sometimes lead to food shortages and complicate access to health care for those in need.
carbon monoxide poisoning
Viral images on social media on Tuesday showed residents of Lanzhou (northwest) desperately trying to resuscitate a child after carbon monoxide poisoning.
In a message, his father had complained about the slow pace of the relay and about not having been able to leave his residence due to the confinement of the city. Neighbors expressed their anger.
Local police published a detailed account of the events on Thursday and offered their “sincere condolences” to the parents.
“We sincerely accept the criticism as well as the monitoring of the media and netizens… to prevent such accidents from happening again,” the Lanzhou police wrote, in a rare repentance.
A 14-year-old girl died last month
The case had caused a stir earlier in the week with a storm of online messages, against the uncompromising covid zero policy. “Three years of the pandemic have been his whole life,” wrote one Internet user, referring to the age of the boy, named Tuo.
This incident is the latest in a series of health emergencies hampered by Covid zero. Last month, the death of a 14-year-old girl, deprived of care in quarantine, caused outrage in the country.
Internet censors quickly removed any reference to the incident. In January, a pregnant woman had a miscarriage at the door of a hospital in Xi’an (north), for lack of a valid PCR test.
Source: BFM TV
