China investigates release of coronavirus-infected inmate in Hubei
27 February, 2020
China has sent a study team to Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of a COVID-19 outbreak, after reports a prison released an infected inmate who then travelled to Beijing.
A team led by the Ministry of Justice, Supreme Court and Ministry of Public Security will look in to the incident, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China said in a news release on Thursday (Feb 27).
Media reports said an infected inmate premiered from a Wuhan women's prison after completing her sentence. Family then drove her to Beijing.
The report has caused an uproar, with netizens asking how she got out of a city that is sealed off for more than a month.
"We healthy people get stuck in Wuhan and she can escape the strictest lockdown there with a fever?" one commentator said on China's Twitter-like Weibo.
"She must have excellent connections," said another.
An official with the Hubei provincial prison regulator told The Beijing News on Wednesday that the inmate have been released lawfully. The Beijing CDC confirmed she was infected with the virus, SARS-Cov-2.
The girl, surnamed Huang, is currently in quarantine along with three members of the family, health authorities in Beijing said on Wednesday. She was among a lot more than 300 inmates in the prison to be infected.
Virus containment in jails through the entire country has come under greater scrutiny following the cases were discovered.
Xiong Xuanguo, a deputy justice minister, told reporters on Wednesday that local law enforcement was at fault, saying there were "gaps" in their prevention and control work.
Hubei province revised its daily tally of new infections last week after it had didn't include a lot more than 200 cases from its prisons, casting doubt on the accuracy of its data.
Ying Yong, the Communist Party chief of Hubei province, called on officials late on Wednesday to strengthen virus-control measures in prisons, detention centres, medications centres and other public
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