Coronavirus
VIDEO: Shanghai separates COVID-19 positive children from parents
The city of 26 million began a staggered lockdown last week – the largest lockdown since the virus was found in Wuhan, and 11 million people were confined to their homes for 76 days. Residents will be required to stay home and non-essential businesses closed as health officials test every person.
April 6, 2022 6:21am
Updated: April 6, 2022 6:21am
Officials in the Chinese city of Shanghai have been isolating children found positive for COVID-19 away from their parents, according to reports.
The city of 26 million began a staggered lockdown last week – the largest lockdown since the virus was found in Wuhan, and 11 million people were confined to their homes for 76 days. Residents will be required to stay home and non-essential businesses closed as health officials test every person.
Anger flared up on social media when photos and images emerged showing young people isolated from their families and crying at a Shanghai hospital, reports The New York Times.
One video appears to show a small figure in an oversized hazardous materials suit being shepherded toward an ambulance alone.
Officials confirmed that it was separating children that test positive from their parents, even if they are asymptomatic or only have a mild infection, under China’s zero-COVID policy.
“If the child is younger than seven years old, those children will receive treatment in a public health center,” Wu Qianyu, an official from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, told AFP on Monday. “For older children or teenagers... we are mainly isolating them in centralized [quarantine] places.”
However, Wu said that children whose parents are also positive can stay in the same place.
Shanghai residents also lashed out against the “opaque” lockdown process, reports NYT. Lockdowns have differed per neighborhood with some extended without explanation, panic shopping has emptied grocery stores, and people with non-COVID medical conditions have not been able to get to the hospital.
The highly contagious omicron variant has been pushing China’s zero-COVID strategy to its limit. The country had successfully kept the daily caseload down to double or triple digits until March through absolute lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions, reports AFP.
