Children dressed in hazmat suits in Shanghai and COVID-infected babies and toddlers being forcibly separated from their parents as China implements its Zero-COVID policy received international condemnation and calls to end its brutal policies.
Chinese authorities have justified its extremely strict lockdown as a record number of COVID-19 positive cases surged among Shanghai's 26 million residents in the past five weeks. However, the world finds the clips on how authorities have been implementing its Zero-COVID policy unsettling and heartbreaking, prompting international leaders to call for China to stop the brutality.
Shangai is struggling to contain the outbreak as it records 20,000 Covid cases per day, Windobi reports.
Footages of chilling lockdown measures
A video clip showed a group of youngsters covered from head to toe and heading for school during the strict lockdown. The kids of primary age were noted to have worn face masks, leaving only their eyes visible.
Scenes of toddlers screaming after they were forcibly removed from their parents and kept in cages. According to the Sun, Shanghai resident, Esther Zhao, brought her two-year-old daughter, Esther Zhao, to the hospital with a fever on March 26. They both tested positive for COVID-19 three days later. The doctors attempted to take Zhao's child away to a quarantine center. She was threatened when she did not comply.
Zhao said she and her husband had not seen her daughter since or had not received a single photo of their child. She told Reuters that there were no pictures, and she was anxious about not knowing how her daughter was doing. The worried mom also said they had been deprived of information, with doctors only giving them one brief update despite their desperate plea, as per The Sun.
Under China's policy, anyone found positive, even if it is asymptomatic or with a mild infection, must be isolated from non-infected people. Children under seven years old are taken away from their parents and placed in health centers. Meanwhile, older children are locked in quarantine facilities to stop them from spreading the virus.
The cruel policy has shocked the city of 25 million residents to its core. Several video footage showed mass panic, anxiety, and outrage among horrified residents. Despite the growing frustration and heartbreaking scenes, health officials of Shanghai defended the brutal separation policy.
On Monday, Wu Qianyu, an official from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, confirmed the policy. She added that the policy was integral to virus "prevention and control." She also said that they allowed positive parents to isolate their kids.
However, parents and guardians are enraged and have taken their anger to social media.
International condemnation
The brutal policies prompted diplomats from more than 30 countries to write Chinese foreign ministry to demand an immediate end to the policies.
In Beijing, the British embassy said it was concerned about instances when local authorities sought to separate COVID-19 minors from their parents.
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