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.



Russian Overnight Attack on Ukraine Kills One, Damages Energy Facilities, Ukraine Says 

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
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Russian Overnight Attack on Ukraine Kills One, Damages Energy Facilities, Ukraine Says 

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

At least one person was killed and 10 injured, including three children, in overnight drone attacks by Russia on Ukraine, officials said on Wednesday.

Various attacks also damaged energy facilities in two regions, according to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The attacks came as both sides accuse each other of not abiding by a US-proposed moratorium on strikes on each other's energy facilities.

"This systematic and constant nature of Russian strikes clearly indicates that Moscow despises the diplomatic efforts of partners," Zelenskiy said. "What's needed is new and tangible pressure on Russia to put this war on a path toward ending."

A drone hit a substation in the northeastern Sumy region and artillery fire damaged a power line in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, cutting electricity to nearly 4,000 consumers, he said on X.

A 45-year-old civilian was killed and two people were injured in a strike on a settlement near the frontline in Zaporizhzhia region, the governor of the southeastern region said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Fifteen drone strikes were carried out on Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second largest city and lies close to the Russian border, city Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a post on Telegram.

Oleh Sinehubov, the region's governor, said that a 9-month infant, a 7-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were among the eight injured in Kharkiv.

Russia has recently intensified its strikes on the city, with its attacks killing at least two people over the weekend and injuring tens more.

The Ukrainian air force shot down 41 drones out of 74 launched by Russia, it said in a statement on Telegram.

Another 20 drones did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, it added, without saying what happened to the remaining 13 drones.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, saying their attacks are aimed at destroying each other's infrastructure crucial to war efforts.