CORONAVIRUS-BATTERED Hubei Province has fired or disciplined a group of officials for breaching work disciplines and shirking responsibilities in the fight against the epidemic, the provincial discipline inspection authority said yesterday.

The announcement did not specify the number of punished officials but named and shamed several of them whose malfeasance ranges from dereliction of duty to defying quarantine rules to hold banquets.

Sheng Congfeng, a director at Wuhan’s municipal culture and tourism department, was removed from office for deserting. He was accused of visiting his home province of Anhui for holiday Jan. 23 without prior reporting.

Zhang Xinfu, vice principal of a primary school in Tongcheng County, was expelled from the Communist Party of China.

Zhang allegedly hid the fact that he had visited the epidemic epicenter Wuhan with his wife and insisted on holding a birthday feast for his father Jan. 22, attended by villagers and colleagues. Two days later, his wife was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus pneumonia, while Zhang refused to cooperate with an investigation.

The Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei also punished eight government officials over incompetent control of the epidemic.

Two township-level Party chiefs have been removed from their posts and the six others given serious warnings, according to the discipline watchdog of Enshi.

Towns and villages in Enshi have been ordered to implement strict personnel and traffic control and prevent the gathering of crowds. But loopholes still existed during a recent inspection.

(Xinhua)