Dozens of officials have been punished over a virus outbreak in the locked-down city of Xi’an, China’s disciplinary body said Friday — the latest state reprimands under Beijing’s strict zero-Covid approach.
China, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, is on high alert for new infections as it prepares to hold the Winter Olympics in February in the capital Beijing.
But cases have been bubbling up in recent weeks — with Xi’an, home to the world-famous Terracotta Warriors, telling all 13 million residents to stay home from Thursday, shuttering businesses and launching several rounds of mass testing.
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Xi’an reported another 49 cases on Friday, bringing the total outbreak to more than 250 in recent weeks.
The statement said inspections had revealed there had been a lax approach to testing and an uncoordinated response that hindered contact tracing in Xi’an.
A party secretary in Inner Mongolia was sacked after his area was hit by a cluster of cases in October, while the head of Zhengzhou city’s health commission was sacked in August after cases this summer.
Under lockdown rules, since Thursday all households in Xi’an have only been permitted to send one member outside every two days to purchase necessities.
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