Chinese leaders face anger over 2nd child's quarantine death
Chinese authorities are facing more public anger after a second child’s death was blamed on overzealous anti-virus enforcement, adding to frustration at controls that are confining millions of people to their homes and sparked fights with health workers
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities faced more public anger Thursday after a second child's death was blamed on overzealous anti-virus enforcement, adding to frustration at controls that are confining millions of people to their homes and sparked fights with health workers.
The 4-month-old girl died after suffering vomiting and diarrhea while in quarantine at a hotel in the central city of Zhengzhou, according to news reports and social media posts. They said it took her father 11 hours to get help after emergency services balked at dealing with them and she finally was sent to a hospital 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.
The death came after the ruling Communist Party promised this month that people in quarantine wouldn't be blocked from getting emergency help following an outcry over a 3-year-old boy's death from carbon monoxide in the northwest. His father blamed health workers in the city of Lanzhou, who he said tried to stop him from taking his son to a hospital.
Internet users expressed anger at the ruling Communist Party’s “zero-COVID” strategy and demanded that officials in Zhengzhou be punished for failing to help the public.
