The death of a second child in China, due to excessive zeal in the application of epidemic prevention measures, renewed popular discontent in the country with the ‘zero cases’ strategy of Covid-19.
A 4-month-old girl died after suffering from vomiting and diarrhea while quarantined at a hotel in the city of Zhengzhou, in central China, according to information released by the local press and posts on social networks.
It took the boy’s father 11 hours to get help, after emergency services refused to treat the boy, who was eventually sent to a hospital 100 kilometers from where he was in quarantine.
The death came after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) vowed last week that quarantined people would not be prevented from accessing emergency services, following the death of a three-year-old boy from poisoning caused by a leak. of carbon monoxide at his home in the Northwest. country.
The father blamed health workers in the city of Lanzhou, who he said tried to prevent him from taking his son to the hospital.
On social media, netizens expressed anger over the Covid-19 ‘zero cases’ strategy and demanded that Zhengzhou authorities be punished for negligence.
“Once again, someone has died due to excessive epidemic prevention measures,” wrote a netizen on the Sina Weibo social network. “They put their official position above everything else,” he noted.
National guidelines released last week urged local governments to follow a scientific and targeted approach and avoid unnecessary measures. The authorities want to avoid the blockade of entire cities, to try to minimize the impact on economic activity, but without giving up the strategy aimed at eliminating outbreaks of the new coronavirus.
The Chinese strategy has kept China’s infection numbers well below those of the rest of the world, but residents of some areas have complained about shortages of food and other essential goods.
China registered 23,276 new cases in the last 24 hours. This included a total of 9,680 in Guangzhou, one of China’s largest cities and a major industrial center.
Earlier this week, groups of Guangzhou residents escaped the blockade of their neighborhoods and clashed with the police. Tensions flared in the Haizhu district, which is under a very restrictive lockdown. The area is home to many migrant workers from poor rural areas. They complained about not being paid for being unable to attend work and about food shortages and rising prices due to epidemic prevention measures.
A total of 1,659 cases have been diagnosed in Henan province, of which Zhengzhou is the capital.
The 4-month-old girl and her father were placed in quarantine on Saturday.
A Weibo account of a user who identifies himself as the girl’s father, Li Baoliang, said he started calling the emergency line at noon Monday after the girl suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. The hotline responded that the girl was not sick enough to require emergency care.
Health professionals at the quarantine site called an ambulance, but the team refused to attend to the case because the father tested positive for coronavirus.
The girl finally made it to the hospital at 11 p.m., but she ultimately died despite efforts to revive her.
The account attributed to the father complained that the hotline acted inappropriately, nearby hospitals refused to help, and the hospital they were sent to failed to provide “timely treatment” and gave “grossly false” information.
“Officials for the prevention and control of the epidemic, you have no heart,” questioned an Internet user.
The Zhengzhou city government said the incident was under investigation, according to media reports.
Source: TSF
