Shanghai horror – has COVID zero gone too far?

China’s major cities are in lockdown in a bid to curb a growing cluster of COVID-19 infections

It’s sparking a fresh outcry over the strict lockdown measures, which are keeping millions confined to their homes.

Most recently in Shanghai, an elderly man was taken in a body bag to the morgue, while alive — depicting something out of a horror movie.

The footage, which shows workers dressed in full protective gear unzip a body bag to find a nursing home resident still alive, has gone viral on Chinese social media.

It has sparked outrage amongst Shanghai residents who are at breaking point after a month long lockdown.

Has China’s COVID policy gone too far?

Yaqiu Wang from Human Rights Watch spoke exclusively to tickerNEWS.

She says the Chinese government doesn’t care about human life, concerned China’s COVID zero policy has gone too far.

“The whole zero COVID lockdown was carried out in the name of protecting people’s life and health.” Wang says.

“But then they would actually stuff a live person into a bag and send the person to the morgue, it really says the government doesn’t care.”

Yaqiu wang, human rights watch

In recent weeks, the Shanghai lockdown has created headlines for a number of oppressive policies.

While COVID deaths in the country have been few, Wang says many people have died because they were restricted to their apartments, and refused access to medical treatment.

“There were terrible abuses related to the lockdown measures.” She says.

Last week, reports of people being fenced into residential buildings surfaced, and with full reliance on the state for resources, many people are suffering from a lack of food and medical supplies.

Why should we be concerned about the human rights of Chinese citizens?

Wang says its important for international media to hold the Chinese government accountable for human rights abuses.

China is one of the most heavily censored nations in the world, and internet content within the nation is highly regulated by the government.

It also has one of the lowest press freedom ratings, ranking 175 out of 180 nations.

But despite this, Wang says people are managing to voice their anger over the terrible conditions they are being forced to live in.

“They are, you know, knocking things and trying to make noise about this.” She says

“But that’s the extent that they can hold the government accountable just by you know, saying something on the internet. Beyond that there’s not many mechanisms.”

Yaqiu wang, human rights watch

This is why Wang believes its so important for external media to cover the alleged abuses.

“You’re showing to the world that this is very abusive, and that people are suffering terribly.”

“I hope the Chinese government get the message that you know, people are angry, people are suffering terribly.” She says.

Is a COVID Zero policy unachievable?

China’s lockdown has become a difficult ideological issue for the government to back down from.

When directly compared with countries like the US, which has recorded nearly a million COVID deaths, China has escaped with relatively few.

Because of this, the government has been able to champion its zero COVID policy.

“The past two years the government has been saying, look, you know, our COVID policy really worked because we protected people’s lives. Look at America. You know, it’s very chaotic, and a million people died from COVID.” Wang says

“It became an issue that we’re better than the US model. So when you become political, it’s hard for the government to walk back from that kind of ideology.”

Yaqiu wang, human rights watch

According to Wang, It’s harder for Beijing to open up because the Chinese population is not as widely vaccinated as other places in the world, and because China’s main vaccine is not as effective as Western brands.

So even with the less deadly Omicron variant sweeping the globe, Wang believes it is unlikely the Chinese government will abandon their COIVD zero policy.

“The government feel, you know, this has been successful, and we want to continue this policy.” She says.