Residents line to take nucleic acid tests in a community in Laixi, East China's Shandong Province on March 5, 2022. Photo: VCG

A total of 17 officials from the pandemic-hit Laixi, a city in East China's Shandong Province, were punished on Thursday for severe loopholes in daily epidemic prevention tasks, especially their low alert and negligent attitude against COVID-19 in populated places like schools.

Both the secretary of the city's Communist Party of China committee, Zhou Ke, and the mayor of Laixi, Liu Ying, were severely warned by the Party disciplinary body.

Nine other officials were removed from their positions, including the city's deputy mayor, the head and the deputy head of the education and sports bureau, the head of the health bureau, the director of the disease control and prevention center, and the principals and deputy principals of two middle schools.

The city's heads of the health bureau and the disease control and prevention center, were also removed from their Party positions. 

The other officials were either severely warned by the Party disciplinary body or received serious demerits in accordance with the administrative disciplinary rules.

According to the local health commission, the city of Laixi has reported 304 locally transmitted cases and 472 asymptomatic carriers as of Thursday since the outbreak started on March 4. Of the 304 confirmed cases, 217 are middle school students and 27 are teachers.