Six officials from south China's Hainan Province have been punished for failing to perform their duties adequately during the current COVID-19 outbreak. Provincial authorities are now making tremendous efforts to help stranded tourists depart and meet demands of local residents who are quarantined at home. Xu Hua reports.
A half-dozen officials are punished for failing to curb the latest COVID outbreak that's seen over 7,700 infections in less than two weeks.
As of Sunday, nearly 9.5 million people across Hainan Province had been tested, with help of medical workers from 20 provinces and cities.
The resort city Sanya has been the hardest hit. Authorities say community transmission has been halted there, as positive cases from the non-controlled areas has dropped to just under three percent.
CHEN SHAOSHI Deputy Director, Hainan Provincial Health Commission "The epidemic situation in Sanya is in a period of high platform fluctuation, but the upward trend has been effectively contained."
Hainan is going all out to increase testing capacity to get stranded passengers off the island, and step up coordination with other provinces to avoid spillover of the epidemic.
By Sunday, Sanya Phoenix Airport and Haikou Meilan Airport had arranged nearly 100 outbound flights, to get over 14,000 passengers to their destinations.
WANG LIMING Deputy Director Hainan Provincial Dept. of Culture, Radio, TV & Sports "Haikou and Sanya are working on the return of passengers according to the established plan. Wanning has formulated transfer plans and is re-screening stranded passengers so as to arrange return trips based on their health condition. In Qionghai, the first batch of stranded passengers has been put under closed-loop management and transferred to Haikou Meilan Airport."
Sanya is now improving its clinical treatment capacity by expanding designated treatment hospitals, isolation points and temporary hospitals.
To cut off the virus transmission chains, Sanya has strengthened its anti-epidemic force to ensure medical treatment and daily food supplies in the city, mobilizing over 20,000 volunteers including 12,000 Party members and officials. Xu Hua, CGTN, Shenzhen.