The death of a 17-year-old disabled Chinese boy, left with no food and care for six days, after his father was quarantined for the Wuhan virus, has shocked hundreds of social media users in China questioning the apathy of the local district administration.
Seventeen-year-old Yan Cheng, his 11-year-old brother and their father Yan Xiaowen, 49, who had been working in Hubei's capital city Wuhan, had traveled back to their ancestral village in Huahe township, Hongan county (93 miles from Wuhan) to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year on January 17.
His father and younger brother both were taken from their home and quarantined at a facility 15 miles to the south last Friday, While Cheng was left alone with no food, water, and care. His mother had committed suicide after the birth of his younger brother, who is autistic.
Yan Cheng, had cerebral palsy, a severe motor disability that requires around-the-clock attention. He was left with no one to take care of him.
Local Chinese dailies reported that Yan Cheng, was found dead in his bed on Wednesday.
From the confines of the quarantined zone, Cheng's father desperately tried to get help for his son through, Weibo after fearing that Cheng was not receiving proper care from the local Communist Party officials. The desperate father even posted a screenshot of the numerous calls he had made to the Communist party village officer.
"I have two disabled sons. My older son Yan Cheng has cerebral palsy. He cannot move his body, he cannot speak or look after himself. He has already been at home by himself for six days, with nobody to bathe him or change his clothes and nothing to eat or drink," Yan wrote in a post that included several photos of him and his son, as well as his own medical treatment information and his Chinese identity card, according to the Damihexiaomi report.
Cheng, however, was found dead on Wednesday afternoon - just the day when the local authorities finally made preparations to move him to a local hotel along with his father and brother.
The novel coronavirus till now has claimed 213 lives and most of those who have died in China are from Hubei province where the virus emerged - with almost 10,000 cases nationally.
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the new coronavirus as a global emergency after it started spreading to other countries as well. The WHO said that there 98 cases in 18 other countries so far, but no deaths.
