Chinese officials said four prisons in Hubei province, the outbreak’s epicentre, had reported about 512 coronavirus cases.
According to information made available by the province’s state-run newspaper on Friday, 230 COVID-19 cases are at the Wuhan Women’s Prison and 41 at the Shayang Hanjin Prison.
Hubei’s health commission revised the number of confirmed cases on Friday to account for a written report from the province’s department of prison that announced well over 200 cases in its system.
Out of 271 prison cases, 51 were already included in regional records.
Up east, Shandong province’s Rencheng prison disclosed roughly 207 confirmed cases of the virus, according to state news agency Xinhua on Friday.
Seven of those ill are prison officers, while the rest are inmates, Xinhua said, adding that infected officers began reflecting symptoms in early February.
The provincial judiciary department chief, Xie Weijin, was removed from his post, according to a tweet by the Communist Party-owned People’s Daily.
Rencheng Prison in Shandong Province has reported 207 confirmed cases of #COVID19, 200 of whom are prisoners, as of Feb 20. Xie Weijun, the provincial judicial department chief, was removed from his post. pic.twitter.com/LCgOpWK4pD
— People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) February 21, 2020
“The departure was an outcome of inadequate outbreak prevention and control. All are being drugged and isolated,” the state news agency Xinhua added.
The Chinese media said Zhejiang province’s Shilifeng prison also saw 34 infections, including 27 new reported cases on Thursday. All of them were inmates.
According to Global Times, another government news outlet, two officials were removed from their posts in this case.
Two officials were removed from their posts in a #Zhejiang #prison that has reported 27 confirmed #COVID19 cases. 28 new cases of #COVID19 were confirmed in East #China’s Zhejiang Province on Thursday, including 27 in Shilifeng Prison, bringing the province’s total cases to 1,203 pic.twitter.com/ilvPss6fJP
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 21, 2020
Before sharing the revised Hubei numbers, the Chinese National Health Commission said there were 889 new confirmed cases as of Feb. 20, bringing the total reported cases to 75 465.
So far, the death toll in mainland China is around 2,236.
“Jails are turning into a new battleground,” economists from Nomura said in a morning note on Friday after mentioning that there’s been a considerable rebound of the new coronavirus cases outside Hubei.
In China, prisons in the Hubei and Shandong provinces reported over 500 new coronavirus cases.