Video shows elderly Shanghai resident being taken to a morgue in a body bag — while still alive

• A nursing home resident in Shanghai was taken to the morgue in a body bag — while still alive.
• In a viral video, several workers recoil after noticing that the man inside the body bag was moving.

A resident of a nursing home in Shanghai was mistakenly taken to a morgue in a body bag — while he was still alive.

In a video that has gone viral, several workers in personal protective equipment are seen reopening a sealed yellow body bag after noticing that the man inside was moving. The workers then recoil after lifting a piece of cloth off the man's head.

"He's alive. He's alive. Did you see? Don't cover him anymore," one of the workers says in the clip, which emerged on Chinese social media on Sunday.

The person filming the video can also be heard commenting: "How can such a thing happen? They put him in the hearse and took him back out ... It is irresponsible, really irresponsible."

The video, which was widely circulated online, has sparked widespread anger.

People searched for the video on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform using several different hashtags. One such hashtag — "Shanghai old man taken away even though he's not dead" — received close to three million views.

"People won't die of Covid in Shanghai. They'll die because of inhumane treatment," one Weibo user commented.

Local officials confirmed the incident on Monday, telling news outlet East Day that the elderly resident has been taken to a hospital and is currently in a stable condition.

Four officials, including the nursing home director, have since been fired while a doctor's medical license was revoked, per BBC.

The incident triggered a fresh wave of fury in Shanghai, whose 26 million residents have already been frustrated by the chaotic manner in which local authorities have handled a recent Covid outbreak.

According to Bloomberg, around 2.54 million residents remained under the strictest form of lockdown in the financial hub as of Tuesday. The outlet said the city will continue to hold mass Covid testing until Saturday.

Despite the controversies, Chinese health officials have stood by the country's "zero-Covid" policy, which involves rapid lockdowns, mass testing, and travel restrictions whenever clusters emerge.