Vaccine case

Authorities said on Saturday that six senior officials have been sacked over the defective* vaccine case involving Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co.

Five officials at the now defunct* China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), including Ding Jianhua, who headed two departments at the CFDA, were removed from their posts, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said in a statement on its website. The sixth sacked official, Wang Youchun, was deputy dean of the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC). On Friday, 11 officials in Hubei Province were punished for the case.

African swine fever

An outbreak of African swine fever has been discovered at a farm in the city of Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Sunday.

The farm in Haizhou District has reported 615 infected pigs, and 88 have died after deaths began to be registered on August 15, the ministry said in an online statement. The agricultural ministry has sent teams to Jiangsu, where local authorities have initiated an emergency response mechanism to block, cull, and disinfect the affected pigs.

Typhoon Rumbia

Typhoon Rumbia, the 18th this year, has wreaked* havoc* across Central China’s Anhui and Henan provinces, causing significant economic losses.

Nine cities and 33 counties across Anhui have been hit by heavy rain, according to the provincial disaster relief and civil affairs departments. Twelve have been confirmed dead and 13 others injured. More than 1.9 million people and nearly 243,000 hectares of crops have been affected, local authorities said.

Doctor’s death

Major online food delivery service Ele.me has issued a public apology to the family of a revered* doctor who died after a scooter crash several months ago that was caused by one of its couriers in downtown Shanghai.

Doctor Li Mouqiu, who co-founded the emergency departments at Shanghai’s two major hospitals, Ruijin and Huashan, was knocked off his electric scooter by a courier carrying takeout orders for Ele.me on February 24. (SD-Agencies)