The Mongolian prime minister resigned Thursday after protests and public outrage over the treatment of a coronavirus patient and her newborn baby.
Landlocked Mongolia reported just a handful of Covid-19 cases last year after it introduced strict border controls would have. However, in November, her first domestic broadcasts caused a new wave of bans and restrictions.
Anger rose this week after TV footage showed a woman who appeared to have recently given birth was taken to an infectious disease center and only wore hospital pajamas and Wore plastic slippers, even though the temperatures dropped to minus 25 degrees Celsius.
After protests in front of government buildings on Wednesday, the Mongolian politician apologized on behalf of the government and said he would resign immediately.
« Unfortunately we are moving this mother made a mistake, « Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa admitted on Thursday. “It was heartbreaking to see how she was treated.”
The video of the woman in an ambulance clutching her baby sparked severe criticism, especially as Mongolian tradition dictates that young mothers be in the first month after giving birth should avoid the cold weather and cold food.
On Wednesday around 5,000 mostly young demonstrators gathered in a square opposite government buildings in the capital Ulaanbaatar. Some carried wrapped bundles to represent babies.
Ulziibayar Purevsuren, 30, held a banner that read « Resignation » and said she was there to complain about « incompetent doctors ».
The Vice Prime Minister – also head of the national emergency commission to fight the pandemic – had already resigned on Wednesday evening, followed by the Minister of Health.
The head of the hospital and the disease center in the middle of the row also resigned.
The dispute is the latest Conflict over how the government is handling the outbreak as anger simmers over Mongolian nationals stuck abroad after the country closes its borders.
« I don’t think Mongolians will die of Covid-19, I think of poverty and hunger, « said 20-year-old student Odbayar Lkhagvadorj.
Since November, movement restrictions have been imposed between provinces, leaving around 80,000 people stranded in the capital t are.
Many have complained about waiting weeks for virus tests to return to their homes or sleeping in their cars when hotels are closed for lockdowns.
Officials apologized , when a 58-year-old woman died in December after being refused entry to a hospital for not having a negative Covid-19 test result.
Since March, Mongolia has only allowed citizens to enter on charter flights and required 21 days of quarantine in centralized facilities, followed by two weeks of additional home isolation.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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