Local official sacked as Covid-19 epicentre Wuhan reports new cases

Beijing, May 11 (PTI): China’s ruling Communist Party has sacked an official for Covid-19 mismanagement in Wuhan, where the outbreak first emerged, following a sudden spike in the cases in the central Chinese city which remained infection free for over 30 days.

Zhang Yuxin, who was the secretary and member of the Changqing Street working committee of the ruling Communist Party of China, was removed from the post after the cases emerged in the Sanmin residential community in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, the Xinhua news agency reported.

All the cases were reported in the Sanmin residential community, which is under the jurisdiction of Changqing Street.

Zhang was sacked for his poor management of the closing-off and control of the residential community, which had previously reported 20 Covid-19 cases, it said.

Five cases were reported on Sunday, while one on Saturday in Wuhan which remained free from infections for 35 days.

Li Ping, director of the Dongxihu District Health Bureau, said more than 20,000 people will undergo nucleic acid testing in batches following the emergence of the new cases.

Among the people who will undergo testing, over 5,000 are residents in and around Sanmin residential community, and the other 14,000 are from the nearby market named Duoluokou.

Wuhan also has reported 650 asymptomatic cases.

Asymptomatic cases refer to the people who are tested Covid-19 positive but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. However, they pose a risk of spreading the disease to others.

Hubei province, which has a population of over 56 million, was kept under lockdown from January 23 to contain the virus. It was lifted on March 24.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, lifted the lockdown on April 8.

Meanwhile, China has downgraded the Covid-19 risk levels in all regions signalling its containment as the country has almost returned to normalcy with business and factories resuming their operations following government directives with warnings not to be complacent.

On Monday, China opened its most prominent theme park, Shanghai Disneyland, with anti-virus controls.

Gyms and other entertainment centres are also being gradually opened up.

According to China’s National Health Commission, 17 new confirmed coronavirus cases, including seven imported ones, were reported on Sunday, taking the total number of cases in the country to 82,918.