'I don't know': Health official sacked for 'slack' answer to coronavirus question

Chinese authorities on Thursday sacked the health chief of a city near the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Tang Zhihong, who ran the health department in Huanggang city, which has reported almost 500 confirmed cases and 12 deaths, appeared on state television earlier on Thursday.

But when questioned by a central government inspection team and a reporter on issues like how many people a certain hospital under her remit could handle, she could not immediately answer.

“I don’t know, I’m unclear,” she said, when being asked how many sick people there were.

“I only know how many beds there are. Don’t ask me how many people are being treated.”

A few hours later, in a terse and brief statement, the city’s health department said Tang had been removed. It gave no other details.

It was not possible to reach her for comment.

The original story featuring Tang generated more than half a million comments on the Weibo account of state television’s news channel within a few hours of it being posted, most of them in a very angry tone.

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The government has said it will investigate and punish officials involved in fighting the virus who slack off on their jobs.

The number of cases in Huanggang is second only to that of nearby Wuhan, where the virus was first reported in December.

Huanggang has also been largely shut off from the outside world by the government as it seeks to control the virus’s spread.

Coronavirus claims 213 lives

The coronavirus outbreak has spread to more than 9320 people globally, surpassing the total from the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic.

The new virus has killed 213 people in China.

There are 98 confirmed cases of infection outside mainland China in at least 18 countries including the nine Australian cases, along with cases in Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the US and France.

Authorities say the Australian cases have been relatively mild, with two patients discharged from hospital in NSW.

NSW has had four confirmed cases, Victoria three, and Queensland two. All patients are stable.

The US has reported its first case of person-to-person transmission; Germany, Vietnam and Japan have also recorded similar transmissions, which suggest greater potential for the virus to spread further.

The World Health Organisation has declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency but says containment is still possible.

with AAP

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