Babies are forcibly confined to their beds while in coronavirus isolation rooms in public hospitals in Hong Kong for their own “safety and well-being”, Hong Kong health authorities claimed on Wednesday.
“In general, the hospital will only consider the application of physical control to pediatric patients for the safety and well-being of the patient,” the Hong Kong Hospital Authority said in a statement on March 17.
The body, which manages all government hospitals in Hong Kong, issued the statement in response to increasing reports last week that public hospitals in Hong Kong physically pushed babies into their beds and made children up to five years old wear diapers while in the mandatory quarantine was coronavirus isolation is away from their parents.
The Hong Kong government has mandated a strict curfew protocol for residents who are positive about the Chinese coronavirus.
“Anyone who tests positive for the virus should go to the hospital while their close contact will be under government control for up to 14 days,” CNN reported on Wednesday. Parents who test positive for coronavirus should decide whether to quarantine “and send their children to the hospital alone” or, if their children are positive, “accompany them to the hospital and risk infection themselves.”
One such parent, named by CNN Ariel, told the news website she was recently forced to admit her two young sons to a public hospital in Hong Kong with asymptomatic cases of coronavirus.
“Ariel joined her sons about a day after their admission after spending hours on the phone trying to navigate the bureaucracy of a major health care system and allay the fears of her crying son,” the report said. ‘The brothers – ages 5 and 1 and both asymptomatic – wore vests on their beds to restrain them. They were covered with dirt and wore both diapers, even the five-year-old. ”
A nurse at the hospital told Ariel that the restrictions and diapers are ‘standard’ because hospitals do not have the pool to care for every child with Covid-19. [coronavirus] and wants to limit the risk to staff. ”
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported a report that directly reflected that of Ariel on March 17th.
One Facebook post claims that two brothers, one and five years old, were confined, left unwashed and that they did not wear clothes. The mother of the boys, who was sent to the quarantine facility in Penny’s Bay, said she was finally allowed to visit them after repeatedly pressing on the Department of Health and its Center for Health Protection, only to see them cry in the beds surrounded by wheat flakes. , rice and other food waste.
Hong Kong, a city of more than 7 million people, has so far reported about 11,300 cases and 200 deaths due to the Chinese coronavirus, according to official government figures. In January, the city’s government launched an ambush-style ambush in several Hong Kong neighborhoods and apartment blocks to curb the spread of locally detected new coronavirus cases. The short notice orders require all residents in the area concerned to undergo mandatory coronavirus testing and prohibit the residents from leaving their homes unless they present a negative coronavirus test result.
At least one resident of the Sham Shui Po area in Hong Kong was reportedly trapped in a hair salon overnight after being caught off guard in February. The same lock locked a ten-year-old girl temporarily in another hair salon in the area. The girl’s mother allegedly dropped her off for a haircut and left the salon to go buy food, expecting her to return minutes later. Local authorities issued the shutdown order of Sham Shui Po before the mother could return, but effectively cut the girl off from her parent.
“After the [Hong Kong] The home affairs department became aware of the situation, the girl was tested and had her information registered, and then she was allowed to leave with her mother at her discretion, ‘said a then representative of the city.