Outrage over Corona rules
Infected children separated from parents in Shanghai
4/4/2022, 12:50 p.m
In Shanghai, the measures against the corona virus are becoming increasingly strict. Many residents are not allowed to exercise outdoors or walk their dogs. Anyone infected with the coronavirus must isolate themselves in quarantine centers. This now also applies to children.
Anger about the strict corona measures is growing in Shanghai: After massive criticism and outrage, the health authorities admitted this Monday that babies and toddlers who tested positive in the Chinese economic metropolis are being separated from their parents.
In China’s largest city, the authorities imposed a tough lockdown a week ago after a week-long increase in the number of infections to test all 25 million residents for the corona virus. According to the strict Chinese corona rules, everyone who is infected, even if they have no or only mild symptoms, is isolated from non-infected people. This also applies to children who have tested positive but whose family members are negative, as Shanghai health authorities have now confirmed.
“If the child is under the age of seven, these children will be treated at a state health center,” said Wu Qianyu of the city health commission. Older children or teenagers must therefore isolate themselves in quarantine centers.
“That’s absurd”
Parents have massively complained about this procedure in the online network. “Parents have to meet ‘conditions’ to accompany their children? This is absurd, it should be their most basic right,” wrote a user on the Weibo platform. Unverifiable videos of babies and young children in state institutions were also shared.
The authorities in Shanghai are sticking to the approach despite the criticism. It is an essential part of the “prevention and control measures” against the virus, said official Wu. “We made it clear that children whose parents are also positive can live in the same place as the children,” she added.
Anger at tough lockdown measures
In view of the rapidly spreading omicron variant of the corona virus, the Chinese government is coming under increasing pressure with its “zero Covid” strategy. Anger at the tough lockdown measures has been palpable in Shanghai and other cities for days. This Monday, for the second day in a row, more than 13,000 new corona infections were recorded nationwide, 9,000 of them in Shanghai, which was particularly badly affected.
In order to contain the outbreak, the authorities in Shanghai had imposed a two-phase lockdown a week ago: the eastern and western parts of the city were to be cordoned off one after the other for four days each. In the meantime, however, many residents have the feeling that the lockdown has been quietly extended. They are still not allowed to exercise outdoors or walk their dogs. The supply of fresh food is also difficult.