Two top Jingmen officials reprimanded for novel coronavirus miscount

Two top officials in Hubei province's Jingmen have been reprimanded for miscalculations of the city's confirmed cases of novel coronavirus, according to the provincial disciplinary watchdogs.

According to a statement published on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission on Wednesday, Zhang Aiguo, Jingmen's Party chief, and the city's mayor, Sun Bing, have been summoned by the provincial disciplinary watchdogs who told them to be more careful about their work.

This was because of miscalculations made by the city's health department on Feb 19, the watchdogs said, explaining those errors showed some government workers' poor knowledge about policies and dereliction of duty.

Besides the two city leaders, Liang Zaoyang, vice-mayor and Li Zhizhen, head of Jingmen's health commission, as well as Li Aie, the commission's deputy head, also have been given internal warnings and administrative punishment, according to the watchdogs.

The statement called for enhanced supervision by disciplinary inspection agencies on Hubei's counter-epidemic endeavors to support the fight against the contagion.