Gong Yunzun, Party chief of Ruili in Yunnan province, was removed from his post due to dereliction of duty in the fight against COVID-19, according to information released on Thursday on the website of the Communist Party of China Yunnan Commission for Discipline Inspection and Yunnan Provincial Supervisory Commission.

In six months, three clusters of COVID-19 cases have broken out in Ruili, with the latest one beginning on March 29, which have seriously impacted and damaged the overall situation of epidemic prevention and control in the whole country. The events have seriously hurt the overall economic and social development of Yunnan, causing serious consequences and adverse effects, said the commission.

Yunnan province identified 11 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and one asymptomatic carrier on Wednesday, the provincial health commission said on Thursday.

Of the 11 new reported cases, eight were found in the border city of Ruili during the second round of citywide nucleic acid testing, and three were previously confirmed as asymptomatic carriers, the commission said.

As of Wednesday, 79 confirmed cases, including 76 locally transmitted ones, and 44 asymptomatic cases, including 25 local ones, were being treated at designated hospitals in the province or were under observation.