Shanghai authorities have fired or reprimanded at least six people following a flash investigation amid a public backlash after a senior citizen was mistaken for dead by staff at an aged care centre and sent to the morgue. The Putuo district government confirmed the blunder on Monday morning and announced an investigation. Hours later, it said four officials, a director of the care home and a doctor had been either sacked or reprimanded. The incident from Sunday afternoon sparked an online furore, after videos circulating widely on Chinese social media showed two men who appeared to be mortuary workers handling a yellow body bag outside the Shanghai Xinchangzheng welfare hospital, the aged care centre in Changzheng township of Putuo. The men, who are in protective clothing, can be seen unzipping the bag in front of an employee from the centre and insisting that the person is still alive. The staff member then checks for signs of life and reseals the bag, despite the protests of bystanders fearing the patient would suffocate. According to the video, the staff member next returns to the centre to deliberate with two people in white hazmat suits before the elderly patient is seen being wheeled back into the facility. The incident triggered a new wave of horror for many Shanghai residents, whose grief and anger are at boiling point as harsh citywide lockdowns in place since March 28 show no signs of easing, and with the local government facing mounting criticism for its handling of the Omicron outbreak. According to a district government statement on Monday afternoon, Putuo’s Civil Affairs Bureau director Zhang Jiandong has been reprimanded and faces further investigation. Deputy director Huang Yaohong, section chief for elderly services Liu Yinhua and Wu Youcheng, head of the Changzheng township social affairs development office, have been sacked pending further investigation. Ge Fang, director of the Shanghai Xinchangzheng Welfare Hospital, was sacked, while a doctor in charge was barred from practising medicine and will face further police investigation. The district government also penalised the care centre and ordered a working group to be stationed there to supervise its management. Shanghai media reported that the centre, which opened in 1983 with capacity for more than 100 elderly people, has apologised for the mix-up.