A Chinese woman who lives in Wuhan, China, is suing the Chinese government for covering up the truth about the novel coronavirus, Sky News reports.
Zhao Lei’s father died in January, 2020 of respiratory failure, most likely as a consequence of having contracted Covid-19, and Zhao is determined to secure not only an apology from the authorities, but also compensation.
“At the time, I was stunned,” she says. “Afterwards, my heart was broken, and I was very angry too … I think the government covered up the fact that coronavirus could spread from people to people. I hold the government accountable and ask them to pay the due price.”
What was yet to be identified as a new pandemic had already begun to spread swiftly through the city of Wuhan – where the coronavirus is thought to have originated – by January of this year. By the time Zhao’s father fell ill, in late January, health services were already so overwhelmed with dealing with virus patients that there was no ambulance available to transport him to hospital. The family set out on a six-mile trek to take him in, and eventually a kind passer-by gave them a lift.
But it was too late – the elderly man died while still in the hospital’s waiting room.
Devastated and frustrated, 39-year-old Zhao resolved to sue the government. “I think they covered up the facts,” she says. “And because of that, people in Wuhan carried on living as normal – they celebrated Chinese New Year, without taking any precautions. It meant my father got infected and died.”
Predictably, the route toward justice has been, so far, full of potholes. The Wuhan city court rejected Zhao’s petition and police visited her mother in her home, warning her that she should tell her daughter to drop the case and not talk about it in public.
Zhao remains undaunted, and she is determined to take the case to the Supreme Court in Hubei province, in which Wuhan is situated.
“I think my lawsuit is good for our country,” she told Sky News. “It can warn people that if we have a disaster next time, we could do something to prevent bad outcomes. We can save more people.”