Pregnant woman whose Covid-19 test had expired by hours loses baby while trying to enter Xian hospital

This article is more than 12 months old

Jan 06, 2022 03:18 pm

BEIJING (reuters) - A pregnant woman lost her baby outside a hospital that denied her entry because of strictly enforced Covid-19 controls in China, causing an outcry online.

Posts about the bleeding woman waiting outside the hospital in the northwestern city of Xian were shared on social media.

Two local health officials were given warnings for not doing their job well due to the incident, state media reported on Thursday (Jan 6). The general manager of the hospital was suspended, and a few other members of the staff removed from their posts.

The woman, who was eight months pregnant, was turned away from Gaoxin Hospital on Jan 1 because her Covid-19 test had expired four hours earlier, The Straits Times said in a Bloomberg report quoting a post by someone claiming to be the woman's niece. A video showing what appeared to be a woman bleeding on the sidewalk became a trending topic on a micro-blogging platform.

Xian, more than two weeks into a lockdown, reported 63 local symptomatic infections for Wednesday, up from 35 a day earlier but still much lower than the daily case count seen in the last week of December.

All international flights at the Xian Xianyang International Airport were halted from Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. Domestic flights were suspended earlier.

Mask wearing is still “strongly encouraged” for medically vulnerable people such as seniors and those with acute respiratory infection.

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More cities in central China resorted to tough curbs as new coronavirus infections in Henan province rose sharply, with authorities taking urgent action to contain clusters ahead of the Winter Olympics and the Chinese New Year peak travel season. Henan reported 64 domestically transmitted local infections with confirmed symptoms for Wednesday, up from just four a day earlier.

China’s national policy of stamping out clusters quickly has taken on extra urgency in the run up to the Winter Games, being hosted by Beijing and nearby Hebei from Feb. 4.