Chinese city sacks 6 officials over poor performance in anti-coronavirus effort

Chinese city of Huanggang, which has been hard hit by the novel coronavirus, has sacked six officials over poor performance in the effort to prevent and control the epidemic, the city's mayor said Saturday. Three of them are county-level officials and the rest are village or township-level ones, said Huanggang mayor Qiu Lixin at a press conference.

Following inspections over Huanggang's anti-coronavirus work, a total of 337 officials in the city have been penalized, said Qiu.

The mayor admitted that the city's capabilities to treat the patients remained inadequate and there is a severe shortage in medical supplies such as protective suits and medical masks.

By Friday, Huanggang had reported 726 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection, with 14 deaths and 72 patients in severe or critical condition.