A medical worker in protective suit collects a swab from a resident at a free nucleic acid testing site following new cases of Covid-19 in Lanzhou's Chengguan district, Gansu province, China on Oct 20, 2021.BEIJING - The father of a three-year-old boy who died on Tuesday from carbon monoxide poisoning in northwest China said strict Covid-19 policies "indirectly killed" his son by causing delays obtaining treatment, in a case that has sparked social media outrage.
At around midday on Tuesday, after his wife slipped and fell after being affected by gas fumes while cooking, Tuo noticed that his son, Wenxuan, was also unwell. Tuo said he tried desperately to call for an ambulance or police, but could not get through. "There was the Covid-19 situation at the checkpoint. The staff did not act, and then ignored and avoided the problem, and then we were blocked by another checkpoint," said Tuo, who is 32 and owns a small meat shop.The Lanzhou government and department of health and the Gansu provincial government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters was not immediately able to reach the hospital where the boy died.