By Brenda Goh

SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – Lu, 99, was a resident for many years at Shanghai’s Donghai Elderly Care, and her family was assured that she received round-the clock care at Shanghai’s most comprehensive such facility.

However, this was prior to COVID-19 striking China’s most populous city last month. The worst case of the virus since it emerged in Wuhan in the latter part of 2019, infecting numerous patients and doctors as well as care workers in the 1,800-bed hospital.

Social media was filled with orderslies who posted their distress on the internet, claiming they had been overwhelmed. Reporters were told by relatives that several people had died.

    Lu, whose relatives asked that she be identified only by her surname, had coronary heart disease and high blood pressure. Although she did not show any symptoms, Lu was diagnosed with COVID. Her family was informed that she was to be transferred to an isolation center on March 25, despite having no signs.

    She died there seven days later, the cause of death listed as her underlying medical conditions, her granddaughter said.

She was also curious about Lu’s last days, and why the elderly had to be kept away from those who were most familiar with them under China’s quarantine rules.

These frustrations mirror many others who are frustrated by China’s zero-tolerance COVID policies. All people who test positive for COVID must be quarantined in isolation centers, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms.

Shanghai became a testing ground for the strict policies of the country. Shanghai is a test case for the country’s strict policy. Until public outrage caused a shift, Shanghai kept COVID-positive kids from their parents.

From March 1 to April 9, China’s financial hub reported some 180,000 locally transmitted infections, 96% of which were asymptomatic. The company reported no deaths over the same period.

On Sunday, a Donghai worker answered the telephone but declined to answer queries. Reuters then directed to another department that did not return repeated calls.

Asked for comment, the Shanghai government sent a local media report with a first-person account of life at one of the quarantine centres. Unidentified source said that he was trying to dispel the fear of such places being terrible. He stated that he had received plenty of food and medication, but recommended people take earplugs or eye masks.

Authorities did not respond to our request for more information.

USA raised concern about China’s COVID approach and advised its citizens to reconsider their travel to China on Friday “due to arbitrarily enforced local laws, COVID-19 restraints.” Beijing called the U.S. worries “baseless allegations”.

    ‘DIDN’T DARE BELIEVE IT’

Lu was in quarantine and her family asked who would care for Lu. She asked her grand-daughter if there would be any doctors or care workers. My grandmother cannot live alone.

The care worker could have COVID and not show symptoms. Why couldn’t the two of them stay together?, she stated. “The cruel policies that are causing the tragedy and chaos in Shanghai at this moment really come down to cruelty.”

Shen Peiying’s relative, who went by Qiu as his surname, stated that he believed the quarantine policy was responsible for the death of Shen Peiying at 72 years old.

He said that she had not contracted COVID and cited test results he found on China’s Health App. Staff called to inform Shen of her death from a chest infection after weeks of silence.

Qiu refuses to accept her cremation. She cites unanswered question like what she got after her regular care worker was quarantined.

Qiu exclaimed, “If they all were in quarantine then who was there to care for them?”

Shanghai will double down on its quarantine policies and convert schools, apartment blocks, large halls, and recently completed buildings into centers. The largest centre can accommodate 50,000 people.

    These steps, including sending patients to quarantine sites in neighbouring provinces, have been greeted by the public with a mixture of awe at their speed and horror over conditions, prompting some Shanghai residents to call for home quarantine to be allowed.

    While Chinese state media has shown hospitals with just two or three patients per room, patients like those sent to Shanghai’s giant exhibition centres say they live side by side with thousands of strangers, without walls or showers and with ceiling lights on at all hours.

    Videos on Chinese social media have shown hastily converted quarantine sites, including a ramshackle vacant factory where a number of camping beds were placed, a site made out of shipping containers and a school with a poster saying blankets and hot water were not available.

The first video was verified by a source. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the videos.

    Management of such sites has been a concern.

    One viral video last week showed patients at a site called the Nanhui makeshift hospital fighting for supplies. Reuters couldn’t reach the location on Sunday to provide comment.

Shanghai resident Li Tong posted his concerns on social media after his wife had been sent to Shanghai. While he claimed that the situation improved after more staff were sent to help patients, he stated that the video footage showed his shock and was only able to believe what his wife had told him.

He stated, “I did not dare to believe that Shanghai could be this in 2022.”

This story refiles in order to clarify that the outbreak was worse than Wuhan.