BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) Over 500 prisoners have tested positive for coronavirus in three Chinese regions, including up to 230 cases in one women's prison facility, located in China's Hubei Province at the epicenter of the outbreak, media reported Friday.
According to the numbers published by the Prison Department of China's justice ministry, five prisons in the Hubei, Shandong, and Zhejiang provinces have so far flagged 505 positive cases of the infection as of February 20, with none in serious condition, according to the People's Daily.
The newspaper added that Xie Weijun, the provincial judicial department chief, was removed from his post.
The novel coronavirus disease, dubbed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China's Hubei Province, in late December and has since spread to more than 25 other countries. The outbreak has already left over 76,000 people infected worldwide and resulted in more than 2,200 fatalities.
