A total of 207 infection cases of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, have been confirmed in an eastern China prison, according to a press conference held by the Shandong provincial government Friday.
The local authorities have completed nucleic acid tests of all relevant personnel in the Rencheng Prison in the city of Jining, reporting 207 confirmed cases. Currently, effective isolation and treatment measures have been taken for all confirmed patients.
On Feb. 12, a prison officer was isolated in a hospital exhibiting symptoms such as coughing. He was diagnosed with novel coronavirus pneumonia after nucleic acid testing the next day.
The provincial government immediately put the prison under closed management and started health screenings and isolation work.
The Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Ministry of Justice attach great importance to the epidemic infection in the Rencheng Prison, giving specific instructions and sending personnel to guide the epidemic control work.
All people in close contact with the infected patients have been put under quarantine. The provincial government has organized to send experts from the whole province to assist medics in Jining to formulate personalized medical treatment plans for each patient.
Temporary hospitals are under construction, and medical equipment such as breathing machines and CT scanners and materials such as masks and protective clothing have been diverted from the whole province to Jining to address the need for treatment.
The provincial government has sent inspection teams to all prisons, detention centers and drug rehabilitation centers in the province to oversee epidemic prevention and control.
Eight officials have been removed from posts for the ineffective prevention and control of the epidemic situation in the prison, including Xie Weijun, secretary of the Party committee of the provincial department of justice, who is also the Party secretary of the Provincial Prison Administration, and Liu Baoshan, director of the Rencheng Prison.
