China: Officials punished for failing to control COVID outbreak in Xi'an city

Officials in the Chinese city of Xi’an are facing punishment for “not doing a good job” in curbing the spread of Coronavirus, as per a report by The Guardian. A recent outbreak of lethal infection in the city, which houses 13 million people, has not only prompted stringent lockdown but also jeopardized commute in and out of the city. All domestic flights were suspended after experts traced the origin of the outbreak to a passenger plane arriving from Pakistan. 

Meanwhile, the Central Commission from Discipline Inspection, said 26 officials in Xi’an were held accountable for the recent outbreak. In a statement, it said that all the individuals failed to ‘prevent and control COVID’ but stopped short of revealing what punishments would be meted out to them. 

The city of Xi'an, on Friday, December 24, reported a new COVID surge. Xi'an serves as the capital of the Shaanxi Province in central China and houses more than 13 million people. Despite two days of stringent lockdown restrictions, the central city, on Friday recorded more than 75 domestic cases of the B.1.1.529 strain. According to The Guardian, the lockdown continued even on Saturday and is expected to continue for a few days.

Friday’s cases marked the highest COVID tally in the city for this year. Meanwhile, there were 140 new cases (87 out of whom were locally transmitted) registered on Friday, taking China’s overall tally to 100,871. According to the country’s Health Ministry, the new cases marked a 72 percent jump from the previous day’s caseload. 

What are the restrictions in Xi'an?

Authorities have banned Xi'an residents from leaving the city sans the permission of employers or local authorities. In case, any household requires groceries, then they are obliged to send only one member to the store. Other family members are not allowed to leave home unless they have essential jobs or urgent matters approved by employers or communities.

Nevertheless, several videos and images surfaced on social media showing people panic-buying groceries and household items. It is to be noted that Xi'an on Wednesday. As per CNBC, the city is also dealing with undisclosed cases of a high mortality disease transmitted by rodents. On the other hand, a larger COVID outbreak in southeastern China began to subside this week.

(Image: AP)