US embassy says it’s taking concerns over Covid-19 controls ‘directly’ to Chinese officials

Quarantine, mass testing, possible family separation among issues being raised by ambassador and other diplomats in China, according to statement
‘We are actively working with and assisting our citizens experiencing disruptions, particularly in Shanghai and Jilin,’ it says

Coronavirus China

Laura Zhou

Published: 7:12pm, 6 Apr 2022

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The United States embassy in Beijing has raised concerns about the tough Covid-19 controls being used in China as authorities try to stamp out the country’s worst outbreak since the pandemic began.

In a statement to American citizens on Wednesday, the embassy said ambassador Nicholas Burns and other diplomats in China were taking concerns “directly” to Chinese officials over measures such as “residential quarantines, mass testing, closures, transportation disruptions, lockdowns, and possible family separation”.

“We are actively working with and assisting our citizens experiencing disruptions related to recent Covid-19 outbreaks in China, particularly in the areas of Shanghai and Jilin,” the embassy said.

Extra staff have been deployed throughout China, including to the embassy in Beijing as well as US consulates in Shanghai, Shenyang, Guangzhou and Wuhan “to support American citizens”.

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It comes after reports emerged of children, some of them babies, being separated from their parents after testing positive in Shanghai, which authorities said was part of its Covid-19 isolation policy.

The policy has caused a widespread public outcry, and diplomats from more than 30 countries last week wrote to the Chinese foreign ministry urging authorities not to keep children and parents apart.

“We request that under no circumstances should parents and children be separated,” the French consulate in Shanghai said in a letter on Thursday.

In a separate letter to the Chinese foreign ministry that day, the British embassy in Beijing said it was concerned by “recent instances when local authorities have sought to separate minors who tested positive for Covid-19 from their parents” and requested assurances that this would not happen to diplomatic staff.

Both letters were addressed on behalf of European Union states as well as other countries including Norway, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.

The Shanghai government has since eased the rule, on Tuesday allowing some parents who test negative and meet strict requirements to stay with their infected children at isolation centres. Parents who test positive can accompany their Covid-positive children.

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China reported a record 20,472 locally acquired cases on Wednesday, with 17,007 of those in financial hub Shanghai and 2,771 in the northeastern province of Jilin.

Several cities in Jilin – including its capital Changchun and Jilin City – have been locked down since March, but the biggest outbreak is now in Shanghai.

Most of the 25 million residents of the financial hub are currently confined to their homes, with mass testing under way as authorities try to stop the spread of the virus and stick to the country’s zero-Covid policy. Anyone who tests positive – from babies to the elderly – is sent to an isolation facility.

The strict measures have caused huge disruption in the city and frustrated residents have taken to social media to complain about food shortages and difficulties accessing medical care. The military and thousands of medical workers from elsewhere in the country have been sent in to help.