China punishes 20 more officials over COVID-19 spread

Beijing [China], August 12 (ANI): China has punished nearly 20 more officials in its Guangdong Province’s Guangzhou for negligence in curbing the spread of coronavirus soon after it punished nearly 47 officials nationwide for the same reason.

Guangzhou city on Thursday announced punishments to 20 officials for their neglecting their duty in dealing with the local COVID-19 outbreak in May and June, and fired the director of the city health commission and district-level party chief, Chinese state media Global Times reported.

Earlier this week, China punished nearly 47 officials over the recent outbreak of COVID-19’s Delta variant in the country.

Officials, ranging from the heads of local governments, health commissions, hospitals and airports, were punished for negligence.

In Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, 15 officials were held accountable for allowing infections to spread at the Nanjing Lukou International Airport, CNN reported.

Some officials were detained while others were received penalties ranging from suspension to severe warnings.

China announced in May to fence all provinces and cities to keep out the novel coronavirus after the nation largely banished the pandemic after it first emerged in the city of Wuhan, Asia Times. reported.

The measures were hastily put in place before the summer of 2020. China’s firewall has become nearly impregnable and is being strengthened as the West edges towards loosening its entry requirements.

On Thursday, the country’s National Health Commission said that mainland China reported 81 new cases of confirmed infections and no deaths. So far, the commission has received reports of 94,161 total confirmed cases and 4,636 deaths. (ANI)