Residents line up to take nucleic acid test at a community in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province, on January 7, 2021. Photo: VCG

Relevant personnel in two hospitals in North China's Hebei Province were held accountable for failing to prevent COVID-19 cross-infection from occurring within the facilities amid the fresh outbreak, the China National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.

One of the two hospitals is in Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang, the epicenter of the Hebei outbreak, and the other is in Xinle, a city under the administration of Shijiazhuang.

According to an announcement posted by NHC, cross-infection occurred among some of the medical staff, nurses, inpatients and their carers at the two hospitals, exposing major gaps in the hospitals'   epidemic prevention and control work. 

At Gaocheng hospital, a carer of one impatient was found to be infected with coronavirus on January 4. Although the hospital immediately sealed off the affected area and discharged a large number of inpatients, the infection still resulted in eight confirmed cases as of Thursday. 

At Xinle hospital, a COVID-19 patient who went to see the doctor for acute cerebrovascular disease on January 2 caused six people to become infected as of January 11, including doctors, nurses and escorts. 

The national investigation team found that both hospitals had failed to fully carry out pre-entrance testing for patients and strictly limit the movement of people within a specific area. Gaocheng hospital also allowed extra beds to be added in wards that were already overcrowded.

Hebei reported 35 new local confirmed cases on Tuesday, all from Shijiazhuang. Both Xinle and Nangong were upgraded as COVID-19 high-risk areas on Monday. 

Global Times