Anger in China after reports a baby died because her medical care was delayed by Covid restrictions

Chinese authorities face public ire over imposition of strict Covid-19 restrictions

Chinese authorities faced anger after a four-month-old infant in central China died due to delayed medical care amidst the stringent Covid-19 lockdown, which has confined millions to their homes.

The girl child died after suffering vomiting and diarrhea while in quarantine at a hotel in Zhengzhou, her father Li Baoliang said on China's social media platform Weibo.

When the emergency services arrived, the child tested negative for the coronavirus and they refused to treat her stating her case was not "urgent".

It reportedly took the father 11 hours to get help and she was finally sent to a hospital 100km away. The doctor did not treat her immediately after the initial inspection, the father said.

Shortly after midnight, Mr Li found her daughter's body had turned cold. The child was pronounced dead during the early hours of Tuesday after medical staff failed to resuscitate her.

“This is a tremendous shock to us. I could not accept this,” Mr Li wrote. “I want justice for my child," he added, urging the officials to investigate.

Her death comes a fortnight after the ruling Communist Party promised that people in quarantine wouldn’t be blocked from getting emergency help following the death of a three-year-old boy in Lanzhou city.

The toddler's father blamed health workers for allegedly trying to stop him from taking his daughter to a hospital.

Beijing has again placed millions under lockdown under its "zero-Covid" policy, which aims at curbing the spread of coronavirus at every flare-up, as the Asian giant grappled with one of the worst waves of Covid-19.

The stringent restrictions have led to people staging mass protests on the streets against the Chinese government in Guangdong province. Crowds of protesters were seen crushing through Covid-19 barriers installed by the authorities, demanding an end to the blockade.

Others have taken to Weibo to express their anger.

“Once again, someone died because of excessive epidemic prevention measures,” one user wrote on the social media platform, according to the Associated Press. “They put their official post above everything else.”

Addressing the public outcry, the ruling party last week promised to ease quarantine and other restrictions.

The government is trying to deal with “simple and crude” over-enforcement in response to public complaints, the deputy director of the National Bureau of Disease Control, Shen Hongbing, said at a news conference.

He said the government has received 130,000 complaints including local officials improperly isolating visitors arriving from low-risk areas. “We have sorted out the problems reported by the masses,” the deputy director added without mentioning the girl’s death.

According to the National Health Commission, China on Thursday reported 25,353 new virus infections, of which 2,362 were symptomatic and 22,991 were asymptomatic.