London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 20, 2025

Left at home for six days: disabled Chinese boy dies after carer dad and brother are quarantined for coronavirus checks

Left at home for six days: disabled Chinese boy dies after carer dad and brother are quarantined for coronavirus checks

Father’s post to Weibo says teenager with cerebral palsy had no food, drink or personal hygiene care for nearly a week. Local official says there was ‘no way we could have left a boy with cerebral palsy at home with nobody looking after him’

A disabled teenager in rural central China died after he was left at home for six days without care while his relatives were quarantined on suspicion of having the Wuhan coronavirus, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Thursday.

The 17-year-old, named Yan Cheng, had cerebral palsy, a severe motor disability that requires around-the-clock attention. He died in Hubei province on Wednesday, local government officials were quoted as saying. Authorities had launched an investigation, the report said.

Cheng, his 49-year-old father and his 11-year-old autistic brother travelled from Wuhan on January 17 to celebrate Lunar New Year in their ancestral village in Huahe township, Hongan county – about 150km (93 miles) from the central Chinese city where the coronavirus was first reported.

The father, Yan Xiaowen, developed fever three days later. He and Cheng’s younger brother were quarantined by authorities at a treatment facility on Friday, leaving Cheng at home without regular care, food or company. There was no official statement on the cause or circumstances of the teenager’s death.

Cheng’s mother committed suicide about a year after the birth of the younger brother, Yan was quoted as saying in a report on Wednesday by Damihexiaomi, a WeChat publishing platform that campaigns for families of children with autism and other conditions.

Worried that Cheng was not getting proper care from the local Communist Party officials entrusted with the boy’s welfare, his father appealed for help on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like network, on Tuesday.

“I have two disabled sons. My older son Yan Cheng has cerebral palsy. He cannot move his body, he cannot speak or look after himself. He has already been at home by himself for six days, with nobody to bathe him or change his clothes and nothing to eat or drink,” Yan wrote in a post that included several photos of him and his son, as well as his own medical treatment information and his Chinese identity card.

The post also included a screenshot of his phone record, showing 10 calls between the father and the village party secretary on Tuesday alone.

“The government and hospitals don’t have any protective clothing to spare. I fear that my child will soon die. Please everybody, help send some protective suits to Yanjia village in Huahe township, Hongan county, Hubei province!”

Most of the central Chinese province has been under virtual lockdown since the number of cases of a previously unknown coronavirus originating from the epicentre of Wuhan rapidly rose last week. Hospitals across the province are struggling to cope with the sudden increase in patient numbers, and have reported shortages of supplies and medical staff becoming overworked.

Yan said he was diagnosed with coronavirus on Monday and was taken to a county hospital. He wrote in another post that he had been notified by the village party officials that his son had only been fed twice between Friday and Tuesday.



Yan’s Weibo account was later deleted.

Party officials were planning to send Yan and Cheng to a hotel for quarantine on Wednesday so that the boy could be cared for in the same place as his father, according to the Damihexiaomi report, but the teenager died that afternoon.

The report also said the boy’s aunt fed him three times and changed him twice over the six-day period, but could not visit more often because of her own ill health. She last visited Cheng on Tuesday, but said that his condition was rapidly deteriorating by then.

“He was lying on a lounge chair but his head was hanging. His face and mouth were dirty, as well as his duvet. I washed his face and mouth with boiled water, changed his underclothes, and fed him some water and a small half-cup of rice, but he couldn’t eat any more,” she was quoted as saying.

Yan had contacted a Wuhan disability charity for help, which reported the matter to the Hubei Disabled Person’s Federation, a branch of China’s state organisation for the disabled.

A Huahe township employee told Beijing Youth Daily that Hongan county had set up an inquiry into the teenager’s death.
“Now, the oversight [monitoring] 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,” the employee was quoted as saying.

“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.”

Calls to Huahe township government and the Hubei Disabled Person’s Federation went unanswered.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
×