Chinese university chief sacked after Covid outbreak at student residence infects dozens
- No reason was given for the dismissal of the Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University party chief but it follows an outbreak at a campus
- The northeastern city saw China’s highest number of cases and its highest daily count since the early days of the pandemic
The top official at a Chinese university has been sacked after dozens of people were infected by an outbreak at a student residence in the northeastern city of Jilin.
Zhang Lifeng, the Communist Party secretary and top manager of the Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University, was dismissed on Thursday afternoon, Jilin provincial party committee said in a terse notice that did not state the reason.
The local health commission has announced that 57 people had tested positive at an unnamed university residence on Tuesday. They did not name the site in question, but said it was in the city’s Jiuzhan neighbourhood, where the agricultural university, which has around 13,500 staff and students, is located.
All of them were also listed as close contacts of a “dormitory resident at a science and technology university” who tested positive on Sunday at a hospital.