Twenty-six politicians have been sanctioned in China for failing to prevent an outbreak of Covid in the large city of Xi'an (north), which is now confined, the national disciplinary agency said on Friday (December 24).
Read alsoChina opens an ultramodern quarantine center to guard against Covid-19
The Chinese authorities have been applying a “
zero Covid
”
strategy since last year,
which consists of doing everything to limit the occurrence of new cases as much as possible.
They thus put heavy pressure on local officials.
China has successfully brought the epidemic under control on its soil and has recorded just two deaths in a year and a half.
However, it remains mobilized to avoid any major outbreak before the Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4-20, 2022).
Laxity and poor coordination
Life has been almost normal in the country since the spring of 2020, thanks to drastic measures: long mandatory quarantines on arrival, targeted confinements, massive screenings, mobile applications for tracking movements and drastic limitation of international flights. But sporadic outbreaks occur regularly in recent months. As for example in the big city of Xi'an (north), known worldwide for its army buried in terracotta. Its 13 million inhabitants have to remain confined to their homes since Thursday, businesses are closed and health authorities have launched screening of the entire population.
In this context, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on Friday that 26 officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had been sanctioned for "
lack of rigor in the prevention and control of the epidemic
". Xi'an reported 49 new Covid-19 patients on Friday, bringing the total to more than 250 in recent weeks. Chinese officials who have failed to contain the epidemic in their province or city are regularly reprimanded and even sacked.
According to the Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission, an investigation revealed lax screening in Xi'an and poor coordination that hampered contact case tracing.
A CCP official in Inner Mongolia (north) was sacked after an outbreak of Covid in his region in October, as was the head of health services in the big city of Zhengzhou (central) in August.
As of Thursday, each household in Xi'an can only send one of its members outside, once every two days, to buy basic necessities.
Those wishing to leave the city must apply for a special permit.
