Coronavirus Tragedy: Disabled Boy Dies After Being Left Alone for 6 Days While Chinese Authorities Quarantine His Father

By Salam Bustanji

A 17-year-old with cerebral palsy died after being left alone and without care for six days while his father was quarantined in China over suspicions of having contracted coronavirus.

The family lived in the Hubei province of China, where the deadly coronavirus broke out, and the boy, named Yan Cheng, was found dead on January 29. 

His death is under investigation, local government officials said, and no cause is known as yet.

Cheng, his 49-year-old father, Yan Xiaowen, and his 11-year-old brother, who has autism, left Wuhan on January 17 and headed to ancestral village in Huahe township in Hongan county to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Three days later, however, Xiaowen came down with a fever.

On January 24, Chinese authorities put Xiaowen and his younger son in quarantine at a medical facility, which left Cheng at home and without access to food, water or care. 

Worried about Cheng and afraid that the officials entrusted with his care were not doing their job properly, Xiaowen sought help on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, only to find out his child has passed away.

Cheng's case is trending on social media and has led to the local Communist Party secretary and mayor of the town of Huajiahe to lose their jobs.

"Now, the oversight of cadres is very strict, there is no way we could have left a boy with cerebral palsy at home with nobody looking after him," authorities said. "We have, of course, done our work, but the fact is that he had died, higher authorities are investigating and they will naturally have a fair and just response."

The coronavirus outbreak was first reported on December 31 and has so far killed 426 people and spread to over 20,000 people in more than two dozen countries.