China formally sacked the mayor of Beijing today over the handling of the SARS crisis, as the death toll from the virus climbed steadily upwards, claiming 10 more lives in China and Hong Kong.
The move followed China admitting hundreds more SARS cases inBeijing and the cancellation of the week-long May Day holiday, whichis expected to cost the tourism and transport industries millions ofdollars.
The developments followed intense criticism of the way thegovernment had covered up the extent of Severe Acute RespiratorySyndrome and a public call from President Hu Jintao to halt thecover-up.
Mr Meng Xuenong, who only took over as mayor of the Chinese capital in January, had been expected to lose his job after being stripped of his high-ranking position within the ruling Communist Party yesterday.
The 54-year-old protege of Chinese President Hu Jintao was singled out for blame along with health minister Mr Zhang Wenkang, who was also removed from his Communist Party post.
Mr Zhang is also expected to be formally sacked as health minister. The developments followed intense criticism of the way the government had failed to fully report the extent of SARS and a public call from Chinese leader Hu to halt the cover-up.
After admitting more than 700 confirmed or suspected SARS cases in Beijing yesterday, the health ministry increased the toll today as the orders to come clean kicked in.
There were another four SARS deaths in China, including two in Beijing, the World Health Organisation said, citing ministry of health figures. The nationwide death toll now stands at 86.
There were also 132 new cases of the virus in the country, bringing the tally to 1,959. The WHO said cases were recorded for the first time in Zhejiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Gansu provinces.
In Hong Kong six more people died, down from a daily record of 12 deaths announced on Saturday, taking the SARS death toll to 94, the government said. Another 22 new cases were reported, with the number of cases reaching 1,402.
The latest figures pushed the global death toll to 217. More than 4,000 people are confirmed or suspected to have been infected by the disease in around 30 countries since the crisis erupted.
AFP