Advertisement
Coronavirus China
ChinaPolitics

Death of Shanghai health worker sparks online zero-Covid anguish

  • Cause of death unconfirmed but the 55-year-old is regarded as a victim of China’s stringent measures to control the virus
  • Grass-roots officials have been recorded expressing exhaustion and despair as they carry the burden of managing lockdowns

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
99+
Shanghai’s health workers are under mounting pressure as China’s largest and most prosperous city struggles to contain a Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: AFP
Guo Rui
The death of a health official in Shanghai during the city’s round-the-clock fight to contain China’s worst outbreak in two years has fuelled growing scepticism about the zero Covid-19 policy.

Qian Wenxiong, a cadre with the city’s Hongkou District Health Commission, died on Tuesday afternoon, according to a statement published on its official Weibo account on Thursday. He was 55.

“We are deeply saddened and mourn his tragic death. The commission has been the first to express condolences and concern to his family at home, and is helping handle the aftermath and other matters. Thank you all for your concern,” it said.

No details were given about how Qian died but the police did not deny that he killed himself – as authorities have done in other cases.

Neither the commission nor Shanghai city authorities could be reached for comment.

01:35

Police in Shanghai scuffle with residents over Covid-19 quarantine measures

Police in Shanghai scuffle with residents over Covid-19 quarantine measures

There is a widespread view online that the official took his own life because of the unbearable pressure at the front line of Shanghai’s health crisis.

Advertisement