5 officials punished after video shows man in COVID-stricken Shanghai taken to morgue in body bag — while still alive

A Shanghai district government said five officials have been punished and the license of a doctor revoked after a widely circulated video showed funeral parlor workers returning a body bag containing a live person to a retirement home.  

The blunder occurred as China prepares new hospital facilities to deal with a possible spike in COVID-19 cases, even though the numbers of new cases remain low.

In the incident Sunday, two funeral parlor workers in full protective suits carried a yellow body bag out of a hearse. They then opened the bag and appeared to show a medical worker from the Xinchangzheng Nursing Home that the person was still alive. He or she was then swiftly returned inside the home.