© Getty Medical personnel wearing protectice suits interact with patients (file photo) A 17-year-old boy with cerebral palsy from a rural village in China’s Hubei province has died because his relatives were unable to care for him after being quarantined as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, the state-run Beijing Youth Daily newspaper has reported.

Government officials from Hong’an County, 60 miles north of the provincial capital, Wuhan, where the outbreak first started, have launched an investigation into the death, said the report, which was picked up by other local media.

The boy, Yan Cheng, was found dead in his bed on Wednesday, six days after his father and his 11-year-old brother were taken from their home and quarantined at a facility 15 miles to the south. Both had developed a fever and were suspected of having the virus. Yan Cheng was left alone at home.

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Unable to get out of quarantine, his father posted messages asking for help on the social media platform Weibo. Village officials reportedly visited Yan but fed him only twice over the six-day period.

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A group called Rice and Millet, founded by a former state-media journalist and focused on children with cerebral palsy and other illnesses, posted photos of the boy in a wheelchair and in bed on Wechat.

The group posted a statement on Wednesday saying that Yan’s aunt visited him after his other relatives were taken away but was not able to visit during his final three days because of her own ill health.

Cerebral palsy is a severe motor disability affecting movement, posture, muscle tone and speech that requires around-the-clock attention, though it does not affect mental ability. Yan is reported to have been mostly immobile and had difficulty speaking.

Calls by the Guardian to the Hong’an County government were referred to Huahe town. Phones at the government office there rang unanswered on Thursday.

The new virus has now infected more people in China than were made ill there during the 2002-03 outbreak of Sars, another type of coronavirus.