Nine people have been infected with hepatitis B at the Chengyang People’s Hospital in Qingdao in eastern China, after medical staff in the hemodialysis department operated against regulations, the local Chengyang government said in a statement late Thursday on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo.

Experts and investigators at all levels confirmed it was a “serious medical incident”, and the head, deputy head and those in charge of infection control and hemodialysis have been removed from their posts, the statement said. 

It did not disclose any details about how the patients had been infected during the medical malpractice, but it did mention that the infected were receiving treatment and were in stable condition.

The Chengyang government statement came after an online document posted by a netizen went viral, claiming a possible hepatitis B outbreak at a local hospital’s hemodialysis department caused by poor management in January.

An employee with the National Health and Family Planning Bureau reportedly confirmed the hospital mentioned in the document was the Chengyang People’s Hospital, and “had blocked the information from being exposed since the hospital is expected to be evaluated,” according to the Beijing News.

The incident comes hand in hand with another medical malpractice case in Zhejiang Province.

On Thursday, a statement released by Zhejiang's health watchdog declared that at least five people had been infected with HIV after a staff member reused medical equipment that should have been discarded.

The hospital sacked at least five employees as a result.

Zhang Beichuan, a public health expert, said such infections often took place in primary-level hospitals. These hospitals hope to save costs by reusing medical equipment and lack management of medical staff, financial news site Caixin quoted Zhang as saying.

The World Health Organization estimated in 2016 there were some 90 million hepatitis B chronic carriers in China, accounting for about one third of the entire world's infected population.