Apr 19, 2020 02:38 PM

19 Punished for Negligence in Russian Border Province During New Covid-19 Outbreak

What’s new: Northeastern Heilongjiang province has punished 18 Communist Party members and health-related civil servants for dereliction of duty during a recent local Covid-19 outbreak.

The list included Chen Yuanfei, a deputy mayor of the provincial capital of Harbin, who was given an administrative demerit for deficient leadership of a municipal group set up to tackle a local resurgence of the virus.

What’s the background: Heilongjiang has emerged as a recent hotspot for new Covid-19 cases in China, mostly related to infected Chinese citizens returning from neighboring Russia.

Since April 9, Harbin has recorded 45 new infections, 19 of those asymptomatic, mostly imported or related to imported cases.

As China brings its Covid-19 outbreak under control, its latest challenge has come from a second wave of new cases from people returning to the country from abroad.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full Caixin article in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)