3 officials punished over Beijing cluster outbreak

Three officials in Beijing's Fengtai district were punished on Wednesday for not fulfilling their responsibilities to curb the cluster outbreak of COVID-19 related to the district's Xinfadi agricultural wholesale market, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Supervisory Commission.

Jia Qi, deputy director of the Fengtai District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, Cao Congress, deputy director of the Health Commission of Fengtai district, and Yang Jijun, deputy head of Huaxiang, Fengtai district, where the market is located, received serious warnings and removal or demotion of government duties.

The investigation found the responsible personnel failed to enforce epidemic prevention and control measures in the market, where temperature measurement and wearing masks weren't mandatory and disinfection of the market had been inadequate.

Their serious dereliction of duty is responsible for the cluster outbreak, which has reported 256 confirmed cases since June 11, the commission said.