Twelve officials from Songbei District of northeast China's Harbin City, where a cluster of COVID-19 infections was reported, have been held accountable for insufficient COVID-19 response, according to a notice issued by the disciplinary body of Heilongjiang Province on Sunday.

As many as 20 employees of a frozen food company in Songbei District were confirmed with COVID-19 alongside 59 other asymptomatic cases last week.

A few batches of over 2,000 kilograms of the company's frozen meat products, whose packages tested positive for COVID-19, had been distributed to the surrounding markets.

The deputy district head and the local health director were among the officials chastised.