Residents restless in China

PATIENCE is wearing thin among the Chinese as the country, which had almost become virus-free, faces its biggest Covid-19 outbreak since it was first detected in Wuhan more than two years ago.

With a surge in locally transmitted cases, the Omicron variant of the virus has been detected in 28 provinces and municipalities since late last year.

Daily cases touched a few thousand daily from March, leading to staggered lockdowns in highly-infected areas, including Changchun city in northeastern Jilin province and Shanghai.

There have been complaints of a shortage of food, loss of business, lack of aid for patients with chronic diseases as well as those in need of emergency assistance.

Affected residents have turned to social media, debating whether the “lockdown” in residential and commercial blocks with just one confirmed case in their area was necessary.

And to make it worse, several deaths were reported, not because of the Covid-19 virus but due to the irresponsible attitude of rescuers.

The latest incident involved a 62-year-old man, who had a severe asthma attack at his home in Shanghai last Wednesday.

According to the victim’s family, they tried calling for an ambulance since 8am but to no avail.

An ambulance arrived but it was to attend to another resident, whose family agreed to let the man get the emergency treatment first.

“But the doctor said they could not change the patient, and refused to lend us the automated external defibrillator, too,” said the victim’s daughter.

She claimed she also sought help from the police guarding the locked-down residential area but received the cold shoulder treatment.

“The police said they could not leave their duty post,” she added.

An ambulance finally arrived around 9.40am but the man had died.

“My father was a kind, friendly and good citizen who fed stray cats.

“I hope the authorities could be more humane in dealing with innocent citizens like us,” the despairing daughter said.

She, however, expressed her gratitude to two medical staff who were on duty in the area to conduct Covid-19 tests for residents.

They rushed over to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her father but it was too late.

“How would you feel when you desperately need help and the police were at the gate, but they ignored you just because they must strictly abide by their duty?

“And just when an ambulance arrived, you find out it was there to save another person and the staff didn’t care about the life of your family, how would you feel?” asked a neighbour who was close to the family.

The doctor on the first ambulance has been suspended.

On March 23, a nurse – also suffering an asthma attack – died after delayed treatment.

The family of Zhou Shengni rushed her to Shanghai East Hospital, where she worked, but the emergency department was temporarily closed due to epidemic prevention and control measures.

On March 11, a four-year-old girl with acute laryngitis in Changchun died while waiting for her nucleic test result – a requirement before she was allowed to enter the hospital.

Earlier, two mothers-to-be lost their babies after the women were turned away from hospitals in Xian city, in north-western Shaanxi province, for failing to show a 48-hour negative nucleic acid test result.

A 61-year-old man suffering from a sudden chest pain died while waiting for his test result.

These are just some of the reported fatal cases.

Internet users also shared their extraordinary stories on social media on their quarantine experience.

Among them was a woman in Shanghai, whose bed was just next to a mortuary in the basement.

“I only get 100 yuan (RM66) for home quarantine, but if I stay at the workplace, I get my normal pay, free blankets and other essential items,” she wrote and obviously, she chose the latter.

“It’s my fifth night here, unable to sleep so I go for a walk,” she said while shooting a video of the surrounding compound.

Social media users responded that they could feel the eeriness by just looking at the clip.

Two friends from Shangdong province, who were on holiday, ended up at a psychiatric hospital in Longnan city, Gansu province.

The duo were found with a star symbol alongside their green health code indicating that they were from an area with high or medium-infected zones. Although the star does not mean they had been to these zones, the local authorities required them to be quarantined and observed for three days.

They were sent to the hospital with rooms installed with iron bars at the entrance.

One social media user said he was confined at a temple, where he learned to recite prayers and had vegetarian meals with the monks daily.

There were also those who were confined at clients’ offices and delivery riders trapped at the respective residential and commercial blocks following a sudden lockdown order.

With many countries opening up their borders, calls were also made for China to follow suit.

National Health Commission head Liang Wannian said four criteria were needed in order for China to do so – milder virus, stronger vaccines, more effective medicines and an improved global pandemic situation.

He said the Omicron variant still posed a threat to a nation with 1.4 billion people due to its unbalanced medical resources in different regions as well as the vulnerable groups that have not been fully vaccinated or taken the booster shots.

Liang noted that for the time being, China still needs to stick with the zero-Covid-19 approach.