Chinese authorities are forcing children as young as three months old into quarantine centres away from their parents as part of their endless Zero Covid strategy.
Esther Zhao brought her daughter, two, to hospital with a fever on March 26 and they both tested positive for Covid three days later.
Doctors attempted to take Zhao’s child away to a quarantine centre alone and threatened Zhao when she didn’t comply – saying that the girl would be kept in the Covid-ravaged hospital if she didn’t comply.
After her daughter was taken to Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, Zhao has only had one piece of information from doctors about her daughter despite pleas from her and her husband.
Zhao told Reuters: ‘There have been no photos at all… I’m so anxious, I have no idea what situation my daughter is in.
‘The doctor said Shanghai rules is that children must be sent to designated points, adults to quarantine centres and you’re not allowed to accompany the children.’
She also said that pictures of crying children circulated on the Weibo social media platform purporting to be in the hospital had made her anxious and worried.
In one video, a groaning toddler crawls out of a room with four child-sized beds pushed against the wall. While a few adults can be seen in the videos, they are outnumbered by the number of children.