In a rare acknowledgment of guilt, Chinese local officials apologized on Thursday after a three-year-old kid died of carbon monoxide poisoning after medical attention was postponed due to a COVID-19 lockdown.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the local police had already confirmed the child's death, but they omitted to mention any difficulties in getting medical care. As a result of China's strict zero-COVID policy, which has kept millions of people inside their homes and frequently led to complaints about subpar living conditions, food shortages, and inadequate emergency response times, the city of Lanzhou in the country's northwest has been under lockdown for nearly a month.
Videos of small-scale neighborhood protests that evening quickly spread along with footage of individuals desperately performing CPR on a toddler while riding a flatbed tricycle the same day.
Tuo Shilei, the boy's father, complained on social media on Wednesday that he had been denied access to leave his housing complex by security personnel manning a checkpoint and that an ambulance had not yet arrived when he needed it.
On Tuesday at noon, Tuo realized that his son, Wenxuan, was also unwell after his wife stumbled and collapsed after being exposed to gas fumes while cooking. Tuo claimed he made numerous unsuccessful attempts to phone an ambulance or the police. "I personally think that he was indirectly killed," Tuo said.
Wenxuan's condition deteriorated after approximately 30 minutes, and according to Tuo, he gave CPR, which momentarily helped. He hurried with his son to the gate of their community compound, which was under tight lockdown, but the employees there would not let him through and instructed him to phone the local police or an ambulance.
Tuo slammed through the gates with his son in tow after becoming impatient and giving up on waiting for an ambulance. Some "kind-hearted" neighbors then called a cab to transport them to the nearest hospital, where medics tried in vain to rescue Wenxuan.
"There was the COVID situation at the checkpoint. The staff did not act, and then ignored and avoided the problem, and then we were blocked by another checkpoint," Tuo, who is 32 and owns a small meat shop, said. "No help was provided. This series of events caused the death of my child."
District health officials posted a thorough summary of the occurrence on social media on Thursday and offered the boy's family their sincere sympathies in the process. The boy's father repeatedly dialed an emergency hotline before Lanzhou officials finally sent an ambulance, and they acknowledged that there were lengthy discussions with workers at the complex gate.
