On April 1, multiple videos and screenshots circulated online, showing that at several infant quarantine sites in Shanghai, young children were being isolated without parental accompaniment. In some images, several babies were crowded onto a single bed, and there was a severe shortage of medical resources — with reports claiming “200 children were cared for by only 10 nurses.”
At a Shanghai COVID-19 press conference held on April 4, the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission stated that after children are placed in isolation for treatment, only parents who test positive for COVID-19 are allowed to accompany them. As a result, some parents reportedly even sought to become infected intentionally in order to stay with their children during quarantine.