Medical workers record information of the students who are about to receive COVID-19 vaccines at a vaccination site in a middle school in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Aug. 19, 2021. Zhengzhou recently started COVID-19 vaccination for minors aged between 12 and 17.

Nine officials in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan Province, have been punished for their lackluster response and ineffective management in dealing with the latest COVID-19 outbreak in the city, according to an announcement Henan’s discipline watchdog made on Saturday. 

The officials include vice mayor, directors of local health commission, and relevant personnel from a Zhengzhou hospital that saw a flare-up of dozens of coronavirus cases.

Sun Xiaohong, vice mayor of Zhengzhou government, was removed from her post. Fu Guirong, director of Zhengzhou Health Commission, was also dismissed. The deputy director was given a record of serious demerits in government affairs. 

The Party chief of Zhengzhou Sixth People's Hospital, a designated hospital for treatment of overseas arrivals who are infected with COVID-19, was also removed from her post.

Other key position holders of the hospital, including the president and vice president, have been put under investigation. 

The COVID-19 flare-up started on July 30 in Zhengzhou, a city that also suffered an unprecedented rainstorm and floodwater in late July. 

The outbreak in the city ebbed in late August. On August 28, the city cleared all medium and high-risk COVID-19 regions and lifted all sealed off communities out of lockdown. 

In China, more than 70 officials have been punished for failing to contain the last round of a nationwide COVID-19 surge, which was put under control in 35 days.