Latest Chinese lockdowns block residents from medical care

Elderly are confined to their homes in Shanghai after reportedly being refused treatment by overwhelmed hospital staff while some residents have attempted suicide, The Epoch Times reported as the Chinese city implements stringent COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

Shanghai has implemented China's largest COVID lockdown since Wuhan at the start of the pandemic. As cases climb, the city's 26 million residents have been subjected to mandatory testing over nine days since March 28, the outlet stated.

Since last week, 36 hospitals in Shanghai have become COVID treatment locations, the outlet reports.

While China has reported more than 1.2 million COVID cases and just over 12,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the bulk of those numbers came over the last month, according to Johns Hopkins.

China reported more than 1 million new COVID cases and nearly 7,000 deaths over the last month. However, not everyone who tests positive for the virus in China is counted in the official tally. Asymptomatic positive cases are categorized separately from confirmed cases in China, The Associated Press reported.

Sources confirmed to Epoch Times' Chinese-language edition that there are reports of elderly people jumping off of buildings in several Shanghai districts.

One Shanghai resident turned to social media to ask for help for his father, who normally receives dialysis three times a week.

"My father hasn’t had hemodialysis for four days and now his feet have developed edema. High potassium in the blood would also damage the heart, and (my father’s) life could be in danger,” he told The Epoch Times.

"All my requests received no response, but I cannot watch my father waiting to die at home," he said, later posting an update that his father was scheduled to receive dialysis on March 29.

Dialysis cleans blood by removing waste and excess fluid when the kidneys are not working properly. More than half a million Americans are receiving dialysis for end-stage kidney disease, the U.S. National Institutes of Health states.

Another Shanghai resident told The Epoch Times about a suicide in her neighborhood of a 70-year-old man who was allegedly unable to receive treatment.

"I heard that it was driven by his poor health, probably suffering from cancer and the pain," she told the outlet.

Chinese state media has denied the accusations, but did not respond to the outlet's requests for comment.