Doctors convicted for improper handling of COVID-19 cases

Two doctors in Anhui Province have been sentenced to a year and three months imprisonment for violating rules on pandemic prevention, causing the spread of coronavirus in the city of Lu'an in May, The Paper reported on Tuesday, citing the people's court in the city's Yu'an District.

A senior doctor surnamed Zhou from the emergency department of Lu'an Civil Hospital failed to carry out prompt clinical triage protocol, quarantine methods and nucleic acid testing for a patient with a fever surnamed Zhang, the report said.

Zhang later turned out to be the first confirmed patient during the outbreak in Lu'an in May. Zhang's 36 close contacts and six secondary close contacts have not been immediately quarantined, which has resulted in an increase of 165 close contacts and 322 secondary close contacts from May 8 to 13.

A certified doctor surnamed Ou treated a case of fever with transfusion therapy at a retail store named Kids' Toys which is operated by his wife and located on Qiyun Road W. The toy store is not a medically licensed facility. Ou failed to report the case and administer a nucleic acid test to the patient after he was fully aware of the fever symptoms.

The patient's 142 close contacts and 38 secondary contacts were also not properly quarantined, leading to a surge of 59 close contacts and 290 secondary contacts from May 11 to 13.

The violations brought about eight confirmed cases in the city, 12 asymptomatic carriers, and 5,423 close and secondary contacts.

Zhou and Ou both committed the crime of impairing infectious disease prevention.

According to the country's pandemic control regulations, medical and health agencies or institutions offering medical services should register and report patients with fever as well as people purchasing anti-fever medicines. Those who conceal cases, make false reports, or fail to report cases will be held accountable in accordance with the law.