Netizens sympathize with Beijing's Covid-19 positive migrant worker whose son died in 2020

The missing son of a migrant worker in Beijing who was defined as a silent carrier of Covid-19 was found dead in August 2020, but the boy's parents refused to accept the result of DNA identification, police from Weihai in, East China's Shandong, the hometown of the worker, announced on Friday. The story of the worker touched many Chinese netizens, reported Global Times.

The announcement of the missing son's death soon started trending on China's social media sites, attracting nearly 200 million reviews in about one hour with many netizens expressing understanding and sympathy to the parents.

Amid nationwide attention on the issue, the announcement soon topped the trendy topics on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. Some netizens expressed understanding and sympathy to the parents, who could not accept the death of their son and have been looking for him despite the DNA identification results, reported Global Times. 

The worker, surnamed Yue was identified as an asymptomatic case after he took a nucleic acid test on Monday, the day before his train headed back to hometown Weihai, reported Global Times.

His epidemiological survey, which was called "the saddest epidemiological survey in China" by some netizens, went viral after health authorities released the details of his tough schedule. Netizens on Thursday also created a topic on Weibo, titled "finding Yue Yuetong with the help of the Chinese internet." Yue Yuetong is the name of his missing son. 

However, Weihai police announced on Friday that the police in Rongcheng, Wehai, received reports from Yue's wife, surnamed Li, about their son Yue Yuetong who went missing on August 12, 2020. Police listed Yue Yuetong as missing as they could not find any sign of him after investigation. Rongcheng police then found a highly decomposed body on August 26, 2020, in a pond.

They investigated the site and examined the body but found no crime, so did not place the case on file, read the announcement, reported Global Times. Rongcheng police and Weihai police respectively conducted DNA identification and both results showed that the body was that of Yue Yuetong, 19 at that time. But Yue and his wife refused to accept the results, according to the announcement. 

Since 2021, Yue and his wife have tried several times to find authorities at a higher level to help look for their son. 

Police said that Yue Yuetong's body is still in a local funeral parlor, reported Global Times. China has been implementing a "zero-Covid" policy, which has resulted in growing public frustration and anger. With the worsening outbreak across several cities, questions are mounting as to how long such stringent Covid measures can last. 

China's "zero-Covid" policy is doggedly going after every virus case no matter the emotional or economic costs.