Image Courtesy: Weixin 

Beijing: In a heart-wrenching incident that has been reported from China’s Hubei province, a specially-abled boy died after his father was infected with the coronavirus and kept in isolation, thus leaving the boy alone.

The deceased has been identified as Yan Cheng, a 17-year-old who could not speak, walk or eat on his own as he was affected by cerebral palsy.

On January 22, Yan’s father Yan Xiaowen was taken a hospital to have medical tests carried out on him. After five days of testing, health reports indicated that Yan was affected by the life-threatening virus.

He appealed to people, through social media platforms, to look after his specially-abled son but it was too late.

After a week, the Hongan country government issued a statement saying that the 17-year-old had died on January 29 as his father was kept in isolation due to the virus and was unable to take care of him.

The statement also said that the father had entrusted his relatives, the village cadres and village doctors to take care of his son.

Taking cognizance of the father’s appeal and negligence of the concerned cadres, the local Communist Party secretary and mayor were fired by the government for not taking any responsibility towards the boy.

Meanwhile, the incident did not take much time to spread across social media platforms and spark outrage. Netizens shared the news of the concerned cadres being fired by sharing it with a hashtag and some people even commented that the authorities’ negligence was ‘disgusting’.

Reports also suggest that the 17-year-old had lost his mother several years ago.