Video of woman struggling to breathe circulates online as circle of family members cries for help ignored
Reports that a 16-year-old woman died in a Covid quarantine center after her family’s calls to the doctor were ignored have sparked anger in China, where strict controls from the ongoing pandemic have begun wreaking havoc on a tired population.
Videos of the woman have spread on Chinese social media in the past 24 hours. The harrowing footage, which the Guardian has not been able to independently verify, shows the ailing teenager, struggling to breathe and convulsing in a bunk bed in what should be a quarantine centre in Ruzhou, Henan province.
In the video, a woman claiming to be the girl’s aunt says her niece died after developing fever, seizures and vomiting. He said the circle of relatives had asked for medical assistance but none arrived for days and calls to official phone lines left. no response.
“We’ve been asking for help since 3 a. m. last night, adding the mayor’s hotline and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hotline, and we couldn’t get through,” he said. “I just need my whole circle of family and friends. ” to see this video and percentage, to be able to locate help and seek justice. I just need to know what the explanation is for why he died.
The video appears as communist leaders gather in Beijing for their party congress, the most important assembly in China’s five-year political cycle. Authorities insisted on making sure there were no symptoms of unrest in the assembly, but frustration arose.
Last week, at a rare protest in Beijing, incendiary slogans opposed to Xi Jinping, adding references to anger over strict Covid policies, were hung on a central viaduct. The same slogans began to appear elsewhere.
In Henan, which has a population of nearly a hundred million, 26 cases were reported on Tuesday and thirteen on Monday. But China’s zero-covid policy demands government involvement and all outbreaks. This has led to the sudden closure of buildings, neighborhoods and cities, and the mass quarantine of instances and others considered as “close contacts. “
There are reports that thousands of other people in Ruzhou were placed in centralized quarantine in recent weeks. The girl’s aunt said six members of her family circle had been quarantined and that her niece had no health problems when she arrived.
Such strict enforcement has to upset many other people who worry about being cooped up or away from home, or being taken to a quarantine center even if they don’t have covid.
During prolonged closures in some areas, there have been repeated cases of denial of medical care to others through overzealous officials due to inflexible regulations requiring negative tests to enter hospitals, or because facilities gave the impression of being overwhelmed. After public outcry and local media reports, the culprits were punished.
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The girl’s death did not appear to have been reported in Chinese media on Wednesday afternoon, but it still sparked a wave of anger on social media, with some also referring to a bus crash last month that killed 27 other people who were taken to a quarantine center. .
“Strictly research to the end, the whole country deserves an explanation,” wrote one user on Douyin, the Chinese edition of TikTok.
“The formula is paralyzed and there is no one to deal with it,” one commenter said on Weibo. “We will have to not allow tragedy to happen again!Doing this is not to sow panic, but citizens are actually powerless. “and will even cling to the light of hope. The comment was deleted while The Guardian was watching it.
More than 700,000 people viewed the posts with various hashtags, the biggest being “Ruzhou Woman Dies Unexpectedly. ” The hashtag titled “Ruzhou Woman Dies in Quarantine” was censored on Wednesday morning, and those posts were no longer visible. effort to censor the discussion, with some speculating that it was to avoid “causing trouble” the politically sensitive week of congress.
“I don’t know how many people with health problems there are who still don’t have anyone to take care of them!If they want help and make a donation, we intervene! Officials, please post a message instead of calming the search. “hot topics [on Weibo]!” said one.
Several accused the government of being willing to “empty a lake to a fish,” referring to a recent month-long effort through the government to remove an invasive fish from a lake in Ruzhou, but unable to respond to a family’s call for medical help.
The health government in Ruzhou can only be reached for comment.