Staff members carry out sterilization work at the Terminal 2 of Nanjing Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province on Wednesday after 17 airport workers tested positive for the COVID-19. Photo: Xinhua

Head of the Eastern Airports Group which manages the Nanjing Lukou International Airport, the starting point of China's latest wave of COVID-19 outbreak, is under probe, who is the 16th official punished in Jiangsu Province since the flare-up of COVID-19 in Nanjing, sending a stern signal of the authorities' attitude against negligence of duty in epidemic prevention and control.

According to the Nanjing discipline inspection commission, Feng Jun, Party secretary and Chairman of the Eastern Airports, is under disciplinary and supervisory investigation by the provincial authorities on Tuesday for suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations. Feng was previously suspended from duty on July 23.

Xu Yong, deputy Party secretary and General Manager of Eastern Airports Group, was also under disciplinary and supervisory investigation for the same reason.

It was the latest sanctions after the local government reported Saturday on punishing those who failed to perform management and supervision duties that led to loopholes in epidemic prevention and control in Nanjing Lukou International Airport. 

Additionally, more than 30 officials in four provinces hit by the virus have been punished for their slack response and ineffective management in dealing with latest COVID-19 outbreaks.

China's latest novel coronavirus outbreak started in a flight from Russia that landed in Nanjing on July 10. The cleaning staff at Nanjing Lukou International Airport improperly handled garbage in both international and domestic flights, resulting in interpersonal transmission among staff which finally led to a new spike of infections.

Experts pointed out that this flare-up fully exposed loopholes in prevention and control measures at Nanjing Lukou International Airport, such as the incomplete quarantine of international and domestic flights leading to cross-infection, the low frequency of nucleic acid testing and the lack of closed-loop management of key personnel. These circumstances led to the rapid spread of the epidemic after 10 days of undetected covert transmission which created multiple clusters of transmission across the country.

Since the first confirmed case of the latest outbreak was detected on July 20 at Nanjing Lukou International Airport, a total of 233 confirmed local cases have been reported in the city.

Meanwhile, the imported Delta variant has also spread to more than a dozen provinces and cities across the country, including Northeast China's Liaoning Province, Central China's Hunan, and East China's Shandong and Anhui provinces.

In the face of the serious outbreak of COVID-19 caused by lax prevention and control, Chinese authorities have held accountable the officials who failed in their duties in accordance with the law.

As of Monday, at least 15 officials had received penalties in Nanjing, including Hu Wanjin, Vice Mayor of Nanjing, Fang Zhongyou, Party chief of the Nanjing Health Commission, and Wang Chao, commander of the anti-epidemic control work at Nanjing Lukou International Airport.

The Chinese government's zero-tolerance approach has drawn heated discussions and appreciation on Chinese social media.

"A number of persons responsible for the prevention and control of the epidemic have been placed under investigation with strict measures, demonstrating China's unforgiving attitude toward negligence of duty," wrote one netizen on Sina Weibo.

Many netizens believed that accountability is needed to remind officials to better fulfill their responsibilities. This outbreak is raging and no one can afford to take any chances and let an incident, like the spread of the epidemic at Nanjing airport, happen again. 

Global Times