Boy, 10, threatens to kill man with knife after being told off during Covid-19 test in Shanghai

Scolded by a healthcare worker for riding a hoverboard while waiting in line for a Covid-19 test, a 10-year-old boy in Shanghai allegedly ran home and returned with a vegetable knife.

Infuriated by what he felt was "unjustified fierce behaviour", the boy, while hurling death threats in the midst of his huge tantrum, threatened to hack that male worker to death.

In a video shared by Chinese news outlet Xing Shi Pin on Sunday (July 10), it showed the boy screaming after being restrained by two men wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Another man was also seen taking away the knife.

"Nobody can stop me. I'll have to hack him to death," the boy screamed, while questioning what he had done to "warrant this fierce behaviour".

The two-minute clip also showed the maskless boy punching another man, before he was pinned to the floor by three concerned onlookers.

"I'll kill myself once I get home," the boy yelled, while threatening a concerned older woman to "get lost" if not he would "beat her up".

The boy eventually stepped back on his hoverboard and rode off, Xing Shi Pin reported.

But what was the reason being the boy's outbursts?

A netizen recounted that the healthcare workers told the boy that it would be challenging to do the Covid-19 PCR swab on him while he's standing on the hoverboard, in screenshots shared by Chinese media portal 163.

"As a result [of this telling off], he went back home and returned with a knife," said the netizen.

Struggling to grapple with the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Shanghai, health authorities there have ordered residents to undergo compulsory mass testing for Covid-19, Reuters reported on July 8.

This comes after a government official in Shanghai said last month that authorities had "won the war to defend Shanghai" and lifted a two-month Covid-19 lockdown – after no new local cases were reported at that time.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com