Two doctors in east China's Anhui Province have each been sentenced to 15 months in prison for their role in a COVID-19 outbreak in Lu'an City in May after they were convicted of failing to follow the treatment and reporting guidelines properly.

A chief physician in the emergency department of Shili Hospital in Lu'an, surnamed Zhou, attended to a patient, surnamed Zhang, with fever without promptly applying COVID-19 prevention and control measures such as isolation and nucleic acid testing, local media reported on Tuesday.

The doctor's negligence is said to have contributed to the widespread of COVID-19 in the city, with 36 primary close contacts and six secondary close contacts not traced in a timely and effective manner. From May 8 to 13, the number increased to 165 primary contacts and 322 secondary close contacts.

Another physician, identified by his surname Ou, privately diagnosed and treated a patient with fever without obtaining an operating license from a medical institution. The doctor was reportedly operating from his wife's toy store. His misconduct led to 142 primary contacts and 38 secondary close contacts not being promptly contacted. It also resulted in an extra 59 primary close contacts and 290 secondary close contacts between May 11 and 13.

The Lu'an City COVID-19 outbreak saw eight new confirmed cases with 12 asymptomatic infections and 5,423 primary and secondary close contacts. It caused 3,993 people to be sent to centralized isolation and shut down 14 communities, 492 buildings and 986 units under "closed-off management," affecting 118,405 personnel.

Public prosecutors said Zhou violated the provisions of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases and failed to comply with the anti-epidemic measures proposed by authorities and the country's disease prevention and control agency. They also proved that Ou chose not to report the case he treated as stipulated under the relevant regulations and laws and did not ask the patient to take a nucleic acid test.