Videos have emerged showing officials killing pets on the street
A man in China narrowly avoided being cremated after undertakers noticed his body bag was moving in the latest incident of dysfunction in the country whose
covid control measures are sparking global concern.
Video circulating on social media shows officials wearing Personal Protective Equipment removing the yellow body bag from a hearse and unzipping it to find the pensioner very much alive.
The video shows workers demanding that staff from a nursing home in Shanghai come to inspect the "body".
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According to reports, in one social media clip, one of the workers can be heard saying: "You come here and see if he's dead? He is still breathing! Didn't you see he's moving?"
The body bag is then unzipped and a cover is pulled off the head of the body when it is discovered the pensioner is not dead.
"He is alive, don't cover his face ever again," a man says, according to a report in the
Mirror.
The pensioner is then wheeled back into the nursing home.
The district government responded to the incident on Monday, saying in a statement the elderly man was now in a stable condition,
CNN reported.
Three officials have been removed from the district's civil affairs bureau and social development office, and the head of the nursing home has also been removed, it said.
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The pensioner is now said to be in a stable condition after being transferred to a hospital for a comprehensive check-up.
The nursing home has reportedly apologised.
China has taken a "zero tolerance" approach to
covid, leaving around
345 million people living under full or partial lockdown across 46 cities, according to estimates from Japanese bank Nomura.
The lockdowns have led to many people being unable to secure food and supplies and disturbing videos have circulated on social media of officials
beating pets to death on the street and forcing people to take covid tests.
The dystopian atmosphere is made worse by drones ordering residents to "curb your soul's desire for freedom and comply" and the policing of neighbourhood by robotic dogs.
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