16 officials in China's Jilin disciplined over COVID-19 outbreak

Aerial photo taken on March 15, 2022 shows people lining up for nucleic acid test in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province, March 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Nan)

CHANGCHUN, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Sixteen officials in northeast China's Jilin Province have been held responsible for the latest COVID-19 resurgence in the province, said the provincial discipline inspection and supervisory authorities on Thursday.

Some of the officials, including the head of the municipal health commission in Changchun, the provincial capital, were removed from their posts, while the others received punishments, including intra-Party warnings for their inadequate epidemic prevention efforts amid the fresh outbreak.

The officials are mainly from health and education authorities in the cities of Changchun and Jilin, which have been hardest-hit by the coronavirus recently.

The range of problems include insufficient attention to COVID-19 prevention and control in schools, failure to rigorously implement anti-epidemic measures, and poor management during the period, according to the provincial discipline inspection and supervisory authorities.

On Wednesday, the province reported 742 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 415 local asymptomatic carriers.

As of Wednesday, the construction of eight makeshift hospitals, with 11,488 beds, had been completed, while two temporary quarantine facilities boasting 662 isolation rooms had been established in the northeastern province.