Patients sick with non-Covid related illnesses are being kept away from hospitals as anger grows over failure to control Omicron
ia Ruiling’s* father has been enduring severe pain since 17 March. He has late-stage stomach cancer, but his hospital refused to treat him because Jia’s neighbourhood in Shanghai was under lockdown as a result of a handful of Covid cases.
Luo Ruixiang*, a 39-year-old Chinese worker in the Republic of the Congo, had a similar experience. He flew home in March in the hope of receiving urgent treatment after damaging his left eye. The Omicron outbreak in Shanghai is the largest test for China’s zero-Covid policy so far, and the city is struggling. On Monday, health officials reported 8,581 asymptomatic and 425 symptomatic cases for the previous 24 hours. The numbers are small compared with countries such as the UK and US, but they are some of the largest in China since the virus was first reported in Wuhan in late 2019.
Responding to complaints, Ma Chunlei, the secretary general of Shanghai’s municipal government, admitted on Friday that his administration had handled the outbreak poorly. “Our awareness of the highly infectious and insidious Omicron mutant strain was not sufficient, and our preparation for the significant rise in infections was not comprehensive,” he said. “We sincerely accept your criticism and are working hard to improve it.
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