Daily US Times, Beijing: The Coronavirus death toll passed 1,000 as China sacks several high officials over their handling of the outbreak.
The party secretary for the Hubei Health Commission, and the head of the commission, were among those who are removed from their positions.
They are the most senior officials to be removed so far.
The deputy director of the local Red Cross was also removed for “dereliction of duty” over “handling of donations”.
The outbreak faced its deadliest day so far on Monday as a total of 103 deaths reported on that day. The national death toll is now 1,016.
But what makes the authorities hopeful is the number of new infections nationally was down almost 20% from the day before, from 3,062 to 2,478.
Hubei’s health commission confirmed 2,097 cases on Monday which is low from the previous day.
China’s state media reports that there have been hundreds of sackings, investigations, and warnings across Hubei and other provinces during the outbreak.
But removal from a certain role does not always mean the person will be sacked entirely, as it can also mean demotion.
The sacked officials can also be punished by the ruling Communist Party.
State media has provided such as an example of the deputy head of the Red Cross, Zhang Qin, as he was given “a serious intra-Party warning as well as a serious administrative demerit”, state media said.
The deputy head of the Wuhan bureau of statistics was removed earlier this month. He was also warned with a “serious intra-party warning a well as a serious administrative demerit for violating relevant regulations to distribute face masks”.
There’s been growing criticism of how authorities are handling the outbreak. The death of a doctor whose early warnings were suppressed by authorities sparked widespread public anger.
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