The nation of 1.4 billion has placed at least four million people under harsh new lockdown measures in a desperate attempt to maintain the nation's Covid-zero strategy.
The order has been imposed in 11 provinces – including Beijing – and apartment blocks with active cases have been put into strict 21 day lockdowns.
It comes after more than 120 Covid cases were reported in the last week — leaving authorities scrambling to contain the outbreak just 100 days before the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics – and two weeks out from a key Chinese Communist Party meeting.
Can you imagine if we held our leaders to account in the same manner?As part of China's strict enforcement of the zero-Covid policy, those deemed to have failed in controlling Covid are often dismissed from their posts or punished.
On Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the party secretary of Ejin Banner in the northern Inner Mongolia region had been sacked, "due to poor performance and implementation in epidemic prevention and control".
Hit by the latest wave, the city locked down about 35,000 residents from Monday. Around 10,000 tourists were also placed under lockdown in Ejin, according to local media reports.
Six other officials were punished for their "slack response" to the latest flare-up, state media reported, and a local police bureau deputy director was removed from their position.
Beijing police have launched three criminal investigations into alleged Covid safety breaches, deputy director of the city's public security bureau said Sunday.
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