Party chief in Inner Mongolia sacked over ‘insufficient’ Covid-19 response
- Chen Zhanyun has been removed as secretary of Ejina banner, a job he had been in for less than two months
- Over 9,400 tourists are stranded in the scenic area, where most cases in the latest outbreak have been reported
Chen Zhanyun, who had been in the job for less than two months, was sacked on Tuesday due to “insufficient” implementation of measures to control the latest wave of cases, Inner Mongolia Daily reported.
Dai Qin, party chief for the Alashan League – an administrative unit akin to a city that includes Ejina – will take over as acting banner party secretary, according to the report.
Most of the cases in the latest Covid-19 outbreak in China, which began on October 17, have been in the Inner Mongolia region. It has now spread to more than 10 provinces, with almost 100 locally transmitted infections as of Tuesday, most of them in Ejina banner, according to the regional health commission.
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Chen’s removal comes after at least six other Ejina officials were reprimanded for failing to uphold outbreak control measures. The banner’s health commission director, Qu Jianghui, has also been removed from his post, the local government said on Saturday.
Several banners within the Alashan League, including Ejina, have introduced strict measures to contain the outbreak, with at least 37 residential compounds locked down last week.
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More than 9,400 tourists have meanwhile been stranded in villages in Ejina after its risk level was upgraded and their home cities imposed entry restrictions on people who had been in the scenic area, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Tourists visit Ejina – which is home to about 35,000 people – to see its desert poplars, particularly in autumn when the leaves turn golden.
Beijing has imposed tough controls, announcing that people who have been in a location with more than one Covid-19 case cannot enter the city unless they have authorisation.
Cities in Inner Mongolia are also on high alert, including the capital Hohhot and Ordos.
“After we got our first case, the alert level was raised. Health workers and local officials need to be vigilant against the outbreak,” said a worker from the Ordos health commission, who declined to give her name.
Ordos reported its first case in the current outbreak on Monday. A level 3 alert is expected to be in place until the end of the year, the health commission said, meaning people arriving in the city from elsewhere will need to provide a negative test result done within 48 hours, or quarantine for 14 days at home or in a hotel, depending on the risk level of the place they travelled from.
Residents can still go out provided their health code – a digital QR code linked to their medical records – is normal, though they have been encouraged to stay inside, the health commission said.
