Chinese border city's Communist Party chief dismissed over COVID-19 outbreaks (updated)

Emperor Culture

08/04/2021 03:40

(Changes slug; recasts with dismissal of Ruili city's top
Communist Party official)
    BEIJING, April 8 (Reuters) - The top Communist Party
official of a city in China's southwestern Yunnan province was
dismissed from his post due to what the provincial government
called a "serious dereliction of duty" in failing to prevent
COViD-19 outbreaks in recent months. 
    Yunnan's government said in a statement on Thursday that
three separate COVID-19 outbreaks occurred within a half-year
period in Ruili city, which borders Myanmar, under the watch of
city's party chief, Gong Yunzun. 
    The outbreaks, including a cluster that emerged last week,
"severely affected" Yunnan and China's epidemic prevention
efforts and harmed the province's economic and social
development, the statement said, adding that Gong's dismissal
should serve as a warning. 
    News of the dismissal came as China reported 24 new
confirmed COVID-19 cases for April 7, including 11 locally
transmitted infections reported in Yunnan, doubling the total
reported a day earlier.   
    Ruili has imposed home quarantine, launched mass testing
drives and began vaccinations in a bid to stop the disease 
spreading further. 
    The city is a key transit point for Yunnan, which has
struggled to monitor its rugged 4,000 km (2,500-mile) border
with Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam for illegal immigration amid a
wave of unauthorised crossings last year by people seeking a
haven in China from the pandemic.
    The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not
classify as confirmed cases, fell to six from eight cases a day
earlier. 
    The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland
China to date now stands at 90,365, while the death toll
remained unchanged at 4,636.     

 (Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Se Young Lee;
Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
 ((vincentsy.lee@thomsonreuters.com; follow me on Twitter
@Rover829;))