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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaPolitics

No time to relax in Wuhan’s coronavirus battle, top Chinese law enforcer says

  • Chen Yixin urges cadres at the city’s correctional facilities to step up containment measures to prevent further spread of disease

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Chen Yixin, secretary general of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, has urged cadres to further reinforce controls at correctional facilities. Photo: Handout
Mimi Lau
Beijing’s top law enforcer has warned officials in the central Chinese city of Wuhan not to relax in the battle against the coronavirus epidemic despite signs of progress.

Inspecting correctional centres on Friday, Chen Yixin, secretary general of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, urged cadres to further reinforce controls at the facilities.

China reported 99 new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, taking the national total to 80,651 and the death toll to 3,070.

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In all, 74 of the new infections were reported in Wuhan but for a second day in a row there were no new cases elsewhere in Hubei province.

Chen said that Wuhan’s battle to contain the virus remained a “challenging and heavy one” especially in “special facilities” such as prisons where the risk of contagion was high.

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“Strengthening controls at special facilities is a tough battle. Wartime discipline must be strictly applied. There is absolutely no room for even the slightest incompetence and complacency,” he said, according to a report posted on Saturday on Changanjian, the commission’s website.

Chen, a protégé of President Xi Jinping, was parachuted into Wuhan last month as deputy to Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, who heads the national team overseeing containment efforts in the city.

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