Two punished for helping ex-prisoner travel from Wuhan to Beijing

Two people who helped a released ex-prisoner with symptoms of the novel coronavirus pneumonia leave the hardest-hit city Wuhan and enter Beijing in February were given administrative punishments, Beijing police said on Sunday.

The two are the daughter and ex-son-in-law of the former inmate surnamed Huang, according to a statement of the public security department in the capital's Dongcheng district.

The two tested negative after being quarantined for 14 days.

The daughter, 37, was given an administrative warning for hiding the fact that she and her ex-husband surnamed Yang took Huang from Wuhan, Hubei province, by car to her residence, while Yang, 36, got an administrative detention as he visited public places in the capital after coming back from Wuhan, the statement said.

Given that Huang was not aware of Beijing's quarantine rules and she did not infect others after arriving in Beijing, the police decided not to punish her.

The 61-year-old Huang was confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus after being driven to Beijing on Feb 22. On March 15, she was discharged from a hospital after recovery, the statement said.

Her case received wide public attention with people questioning how she could manage to leave Wuhan after the city was locked down and then enter Beijing while showing symptoms of the disease.

A joint inspection team led by the Ministry of Justice, China's top regulator for prison affairs, later concluded that dereliction of duty played a role in the case and the root problem lay with prison management in Hubei province. It also said the incident endangered epidemic control work in Beijing. Nine officials from Hubei, including head of the provincial justice department, were placed under investigation, while four authorities in Beijing were also held accountable for loopholes in preventing the disease.