Shanghai Sacks Airport, Hospital Officials for Covid Failures
Shanghai Sacks Airport, Hospital Officials for Covid Failures
(Bloomberg) -- Shanghai removed an airport executive and a hospital dean for failing to effectively put in place Covid controls amid a worsening outbreak in China’s financial hub.
Li Shuifei, the party secretary and general manager at a Shanghai Airport Group Co. unit was removed from his posts for failing to deal properly with a contractor who tested positive in late March, according to a statement published on Thursday by Shanghai’s Communist Party Disciplinary Committee.
Zhou Baoguo, the dean and deputy party secretary of Huangpu District Mental Health Center, was also dismissed for failures over implementing Covid controls, which led to infections among patients and workers, according to the statement.
The punishments are the first handed down to officials during Shanghai’s Covid outbreak, which has seen daily infections rise to more than 19,000 despite the city of 25 million being in total lockdown.
The disciplinary committee’s circular called on officials and party cadres to go all out fighting the virus and heed President Xi Jinping’s guidance with “more resolute attitude, more thorough measures and swifter actions.”
Officials are often held accountable for Covid flareups. In 2020, Beijing ousted Jiang Chaoliang as governor of Hubei province -- where the virus first emerged -- and sent in Ying Yong, then-major of Shanghai, as replacement.
Officials in Shanghai have recently apologized for not being forceful enough implementing curbs when there were only a handful of cases a day in early March. They also admitted the difficulties residents face in securing daily necessities during the ongoing lockdown and pledged to improve access to fresh food and healthcare.
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With assistance from Bloomberg