As fears grow that Beijing is heading for a Covid-19 lockdown, the city’s most vulnerable are already struggling to get access to hospital care. The city government on Wednesday announced that parts of Chaoyang, Fangshan and Shunyi districts – where there have been cases of the virus – would be subject to tighter curbs, including taxis and ride-hailing services being suspended in those areas. “As soon as I read that news, I panicked,” said Chaoyang resident Cara Hu, whose mother needs dialysis at a Beijing hospital three times a week. The treatment removes waste from her blood – keeping her alive until she can get a kidney transplant. But Hu says she has struggled to find a way to get her mother to hospital. Ride-hailing apps are no longer functioning in her area – they just show a notice saying the service has been suspended “in accordance with regulations and Covid measures”. She sought help from neighbourhood workers, but her request was turned down. One of them, quoting their supervisors, told Hu she would need to sort out the problem herself and keep “the big picture” in mind. “The restrictions underscore the determination of Chaoyang district [to achieve zero Covid],” the worker told her. Hu is one of many people experiencing difficulties as the Chinese government insists on sticking to its zero-Covid policy. For more than two years, authorities across the country have tried to eradicate the virus with measures like compulsory mass testing and tough lockdowns – even when daily infections are only in the dozens, as is the case in Beijing’s latest outbreak. Complaints are mounting, particularly over difficulties getting medical care, sometimes in life-and-death situations. The latest restrictions in Beijing also have expectant mothers worried. Wang Xiatian, who is eight months’ pregnant, said she came up with a plan as soon as she heard taxi and ride-hailing services had been suspended. She is counting on her mother to drive her to hospital when the time comes. But others do not have access to a car. Wang said one of her pregnant friends had to go to hospital for a check-up and – unable to get a taxi or an ambulance – paid a passing motorist to take her. The Beijing city government says on its website that a special team is handling emergencies, but some residents said their neighbourhood workers had been unable to help them contact the team. “It’s upsetting that some of my friends agree with the restrictions,” Wang said. “But people were like this in Shanghai too – you choose to trust them until you don’t.” Shanghai says quarantine staff won’t enter homes without permission In Shanghai, where residents have endured a strict lockdown for more than a month, people have complained of food shortages and difficulties accessing healthcare. Shanghai-based journalist Lian Qingchuan wrote about being unable to return to his hometown in southeastern Fujian to see his mother before she died last week – a story that was swiftly scrubbed from the internet by censors. He had gone through many channels trying to see her but was repeatedly told he would need to quarantine when he arrived in his hometown. “If a system can’t even be human, it doesn’t serve to live,” he wrote. Stories like these – and of truck drivers being trapped on highways for days, children infected with the virus sent to quarantine without their parents, and pets being killed by prevention and control workers – have been reported across the country. But the Chinese government has shown no sign of wavering on the zero-tolerance approach. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Wednesday hit out at the head of the World Health Organization for making “irresponsible” remarks after he said China’s zero-Covid policy was unsustainable. Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said the order had come from the very top. “It’s something that you cannot discuss, something you must implement, and that deters local governments from having any flexibility,” he said. Hu in Chaoyang has found someone willing to take the risk to drive her mother to hospital on Friday, but after that she is not sure how they will manage. The situation has prompted her to learn to drive, once the restrictions are lifted. “I used to think – I live in a metropolis, why do I need a car to survive?”