Beijing — Friday, Chinese censors removed from the internet rumors that a kid had died in a quarantine facility, after the case aroused outrage and prompted residents to question China’s “zero-COVID” policy. China is the last big nation dedicated to a zero-tolerance anti-coronavirus approach, reacting to scores of outbreaks with lockdowns and quarantining entire communities.
In response to new lockdowns, the public has occasionally responded with protests, and scuffles have broken out between civilians and officials.
This week, social media posts in China said that a 14-year-old girl died in the central city of Ruzhou after falling unwell in a quarantine facility and being denied appropriate medical care.
Mid-October 2022, a screengrab from a video released on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, depicts an unnamed man standing next to a 14-year-old girl who was claimed to have died after her family’s cries for medical assistance at a COVID-19 quarantine facility in Ruzhou, central China, were ignored.
The reports sparked increased outrage among the country’s leaders during a delicate period. This week, China’s political elite are hosting a crucial Communist Party gathering in Beijing, which is likely to secure a historic third term for President Xi Jinping. The country’s propaganda and security apparatus are on high alert for any potential cause of disruption.
Unverified videos on the Chinese version of TikTok appeared to show a person suffering from seizures while lying in a bunk bed while others yelled for assistance.
“Initially, the girl was healthy… then she went into quarantine for four days and had a high fever, and now she’s gone,” a lady identified in other videos as the child’s aunt sobs to the camera.
The woman asserts that the kid “had convulsions, vomiting, and a high temperature, but did not receive timely medical care,” lamenting that local health authorities failed to react to her calls while the child was in serious condition.
AFP was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the recordings, and calls to the propaganda, health, and COVID prevention departments of Ruzhou city on Friday were not returned.
Here is what a typical day under China’s extensive COVID testing system looks like at 02:06
The Chinese media, which in the past has paid scant heed to similar lockdown-related issues, has been conspicuously silent on the Ruzhou case this week.
By Friday afternoon, censors had erased practically all evidence of the occurrence from the Chinese internet, including blocking Weibo hashtags for “Ruzhou Youngster” and “Girl from Ruzhou dies in quarantine” and removing the majority of videos discussing the purported death of the girl.
On Friday morning, the “Ruzhou Girl” hashtag page had had 255,000 views and 158 submissions, according to the official statistics displayed at the top of the page; however, just four postings remained viewable before the page was fully shut later in the day.
A 1 April 2022 file photo depicts the quarantine facility at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in eastern China. China has dozens of COVID-19 quarantine facilities where those afflicted with the virus, suspected of possible infection, or even suspected of contact with possible cases are detained as part of the country’s “zero-COVID” policy. Ding Ting/Xinhua/Getty
“Have the lessons of Shanghai been so completely forgotten?” one of the last remaining posts on the platform inquired, referring to the megacity’s spring lockdown that left people without sufficient food and supplies.
The poster wanted to know why “there was not even a doctor to care for a girl in need of medical attention.”
A month prior, 27 individuals were killed in a car accident while being transported to a quarantine facility in remote Guizhou province.
And in the lead-up to the Congress, practically all references to a rare rally in Beijing that included banners opposing President Xi and the COVID policies were erased by censors.