China Fires Health Officials after New COVID-19 Outbreak

Security personnel walk at a conference center in Qingdao, China. Reuters file photo
Security personnel walk at a conference center in Qingdao, China. Reuters file photo
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China Fires Health Officials after New COVID-19 Outbreak

Security personnel walk at a conference center in Qingdao, China. Reuters file photo
Security personnel walk at a conference center in Qingdao, China. Reuters file photo

A hospital president and the director of the health commission in the northern Chinese city of Qingdao have been fired after China’s latest coronavirus outbreak, authorities said Thursday.

A brief notice on the Qingdao city government’s official microblog Thursday said Health Commission Director Sui Zhenhua and Deng Kai, president of Qingdao’s thoracic hospital to which the cases have been linked, were placed under further investigation. No other details were given.

Authorities ordered testing of all 9 million people in the city after a total of 12 cases, including those not displaying symptoms, were discovered over the weekend, accounting for China’s first local transmissions in about two months.

Similar mass testing campaigns have taken place after previous outbreaks. Testing began with “close contacts, close contacts of those close contacts and more casual contacts,” gradually expanding to all districts of the city, Qingdao's health department said.

Qingdao is a major commercial harbor and industrial center known for electronics and the country’s most famous brewery, as well as the home of the Chinese navy’s northern fleet.

China, where coronavirus was first detected late last year, has largely eradicated the virus domestically but remains on guard against imported cases and a second wave of domestic transmission.

Qingdao on Wednesday reported more than 8 million tests have been conducted, with no additional cases discovered among the almost 5 million results returned.

On Thursday, the National Health Commission reported 11 new cases over the past 24 hours, 10 of them imported. The other case listed as asymptomatic was discovered Sept. 24 and had been recategorized as a confirmed case.

Hospitals were treating 240 people for COVID-19, with another 392 people being kept under observation in isolation for having tested positive without showing symptoms or for being suspected cases.
China has reported 4,634 deaths among 85,622 cases of the disease.



South Korean Opposition Leader Lee Opens Presidential Bid Following Yoon's Ouster

People watch a TV screen showing former South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung announces his presidential bid via a video message at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing former South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung announces his presidential bid via a video message at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
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South Korean Opposition Leader Lee Opens Presidential Bid Following Yoon's Ouster

People watch a TV screen showing former South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung announces his presidential bid via a video message at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing former South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung announces his presidential bid via a video message at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, widely seen as the front-runner in a presidential by-election triggered by the removal of Yoon Suk Yeol last week, announced his presidential bid Thursday, vowing to heal a starkly divided nation through economic growth.

Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 election to Yoon, led the liberal Democratic Party’s campaign to oust the former president over his December declaration of martial law.

Lee recently stepped down as the party’s chairman to focus on campaigning for the June 3 election. He is considered the clear front-runner in party's primary. Kim Dong-yeon, the Democratic governor of Gyeonggi province and a longtime financial policymaker, also told reporters Wednesday that he intends to run for president.

Yoon’s downfall has left the conservative People Power Party in disarray, with roughly 10 politicians expected to seek the nomination, reflecting a split between Yoon loyalists, who still control the party’s leadership, and reformists calling for a fresh start.

In a video message, Lee said that Yoon’s martial law saga exposed the country’s deep divisions and social conflicts, and argued that the root cause was a widening rich-poor gap. He promised aggressive government spending to jolt economic growth and ease income polarization.

“We have more than we did in the past, but wealth is too concentrated in certain areas,” Lee said. “With economic growth rates declining worldwide, it has become difficult to maintain and develop an economy solely on the strength of the private sector. However, with government-led talent development and extensive investments in technological research and development, we can revive the economy.”

Lee said it was crucial to maintain a robust alliance with the United States and to pursue three-way cooperation with Japan, but he stressed that South Korea’s national interest should come first in “every decision.”

Lee, who has served as a lawmaker, provincial governor and city mayor, is adored by supporters for his outspoken style and has long positioned himself as an anti-elitist. His critics view him as a populist who stokes division and demonizes conservative opponents while failing to offer realistic funding plans to achieve his ambitious goals.

Kweon Seong-dong, PPP floor leader and a staunch Yoon loyalist, said that if Lee becomes president, he will “ruthlessly wield the sword of dogmatism and retribution” and further deepen the country’s divisions.

Lee also has his own set of legal troubles, facing five different trials for corruption and other criminal charges.

Earlier this month, the Constitutional Court upheld Yoon’s impeachment by the legislature and formally removed him from office over the martial law decree, triggering a presidential by-election within 60 days. The next president will serve a full 5-year term.

Former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, head of the party’s anti-Yoon faction, announced his presidential bid Thursday, positioning himself as a conservative who opposed martial law and appealing to centrist voters to stop the inauguration of a populist “monster government” led by Lee. Among the conservatives’ presidential hopefuls, former Labor Minister Kim Moon Soo is considered to be the most pro-Yoon.

Kim, Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and senior PPP lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo — a former computer software entrepreneur who finished third in the 2017 presidential vote — have declared their intentions to run for president. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is expected to enter the race later.