Former Wuhan mayor gets 14 years in prison for bribery
Zhou Xianwang was also fined 5 million yuan after being convicted of accepting bribes totalling more than 60.5 million yuan.
BEIJING — A former mayor of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 outbreak began, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Saturday for bribery.
The Shangqiu Intermediate People's Court also fined Zhou Xianwang 5 million yuan ($747,000).
The court said Zhou used his various positions to assist others on matters such as business operations and administrative approvals between 2003 and 2025.
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He accepted money and valuables totalling more than 60.5 million yuan ($9 million), the court said, adding the amount was exceptionally large.
The court decided that his sentence could be reduced because he confessed to his crimes and cooperated with authorities and most of the proceeds were recovered, it said.
While Zhou has drawn criticism for his handling of the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, a city in central China, the court statement did not mention that, but focused on him receiving bribes.
Addressing allegations of Wuhan's failure to disclose information early in the COVID-19 outbreak, Zhou then said that local governments are restricted from releasing information about infectious diseases without authorization.
In December 2019, patients began showing up in Wuhan hospitals complaining of flu-like symptoms, including high fever, cough and breathing difficulties.
Soon after, a Chinese lab assembled a near-complete sequence of the virus, showing it to be similar to the coronavirus that caused the 2002-03 SARS outbreak.
The lab alerted health authorities, but the information was kept under wraps.
In mid-January, Chinese health officials said in an internal meeting that “clustered cases suggest human-to-human transmission is possible” and ordered emergency preparations for a pandemic.
In public, though, they downplayed the virus's ability to infect.
As infections spread, Wuhan was placed under a 76-day lockdown beginning Jan. 23, 2020.
Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive
Government anti-corruption drives have become a signature policy of Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
Thousands of officials have been purged, including high-profile political rivals.
The sentencing of Zhou Xianwang is the latest in this ongoing campaign.
With files from Global News, Toronto Star and Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Amara Okafor covers health, medical research and public health in Canada for Novello Desserts.