Coronavirus: border city chief dismissed for Covid-19 failures as Ruili continues to report new cases
- Gong Yunzun was demoted to first-level researcher after three outbreaks in city on Myanmar border, say Yunnan authorities
- Two rounds of mass testing and vaccination drive in place to try to control outbreak
“Three Covid-19 outbreaks within half a year in Ruili, especially the epidemic in March, have severely undermined the epidemic control efforts in the country and the province, and seriously hurt the province’s economic and social development,” authorities in the southwestern province of Yunnan said in a statement on Thursday.
It said the dismissal of Gong Yunzun, the city’s party chief who bore the main responsibility for leading Covid-19 control efforts, should serve as a warning to other officials.
06:18
SCMP Explains: What’s in a Covid-19 vaccine?
It said the decision to demote Gong to a first-level researcher in the civil service was made after an investigation by provincial officials.
The dismissal came as the city reported 11 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, bringing the total ongoing outbreak to 76 cases.
The border city with 300,000 residents has run two rounds of mass testing and started a mass vaccination drive to control the outbreak.
Zhu Jiangnan, an associate professor specialising in China studies at the University of Hong Kong, said that with the latest demotion, Beijing wanted to alert officials across the country about the importance of Covid-19 controls.