In extraordinary times, there is no room for carelessness; epidemic prevention is everyone's responsibility.
Compiled from: Shenzhen Radio and Television First Scene
Case review
On the afternoon of May 25, Zhu Moumou, a resident of Beilian Village, Dashi Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou, visited his parents in a residential community on Baihedong Street, Liwan District (his parents were confirmed as COVID-19 cases on May 30). After subsequently developing symptoms of cough and fever, Zhu Moumou visited hospitals on June 2 and June 4, but failed to truthfully inform doctors of his travel and residence history within the past 14 days, concealed the fact that he had been in contact with confirmed cases and had visited high-incidence areas, and was later diagnosed with COVID-19. By the time Zhu Moumou was placed under isolation measures on June 6, his activity trajectory had already involved public places such as hospitals and sports fields within the jurisdiction of Dashi Street, Panyu District, causing multiple close contacts and secondary close contacts to require isolation observation and home quarantine, and creating a serious risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Zhu's actions failed to comply with the epidemic prevention measures stipulated in Notice No. 6 issued by the Guangzhou Panyu District Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic Command, and he did not report to the local village (neighborhood) committee or accept the health management measures of the three-person team in Dashi Town. On June 2 and June 4, when he sought hospital treatment for symptoms including cough and fever, he failed to comply with the epidemic prevention measures stipulated in Notice No. 9 issued by the Guangzhou Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control Command, did not truthfully fill out the Questionnaire on the Epidemiological History of Novel Coronavirus Infection, and did not truthfully inform the doctor of his travel and residence history within the past 14 days. Currently, Zhu has been criminally detained by the public security authorities in accordance with the law on suspicion of impairing the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 330 [Crime of Impairing Infectious Disease Prevention and Control]
Whoever, in violation of the provisions of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, commits any of the following acts, thereby causing the spread of a Class A infectious disease or an infectious disease for which prevention and control measures for Class A infectious diseases are legally determined to be adopted, or creating a serious risk of such spread, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the consequences are especially serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years:
(1) The drinking water supplied by the water supply unit fails to meet the sanitary standards prescribed by the State;
(2) refusing to disinfect sewage, waste, premises, and articles contaminated by infectious disease pathogens in accordance with the sanitation requirements set forth by the disease prevention and control institution;
(3) permitting or conniving at infectious disease patients, pathogen carriers, and suspected infectious disease patients to engage in work that is prohibited by the health administrative department of the State Council because such work is likely to cause the spread of the infectious disease;
(4) selling or transporting in an epidemic area articles contaminated or possibly contaminated by pathogens of infectious diseases without disinfection treatment;
(5) Refusing to implement the prevention and control measures proposed by people's governments at or above the county level or disease prevention and control institutions in accordance with the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases.
If a unit commits the crime in the preceding paragraph, the unit shall be fined, and the directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
The scope of Class A infectious diseases is determined in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases and relevant regulations of the State Council.
[1] The author's perspective
Recently, Guangdong Province has been hit by a wave of the pandemic, with frequent cases emerging in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and other places. Since last year, there have been multiple cases in which individuals were criminally detained on suspicion of the crime of impairing the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases for concealing their travel history and medical condition. In response to epidemic prevention and control, China not only issued the Opinions on Punishing Illegal and Criminal Acts Impairing the Prevention and Control of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic in Accordance with the Law in February 2020, jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice, but also explicitly incorporated in this year's Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law the act of “refusing to execute prevention and control measures lawfully proposed by people's governments at or above the county level and disease prevention and control institutions” as one of the specific manifestations of the crime of impairing the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
It is evident that during this critical time, everyone has the legal responsibility and obligation to cooperate with the epidemic prevention and control efforts of local governments and relevant departments at all levels. Those who fail to comply with relevant prevention and control regulations, impair infectious disease prevention, and cause the spread of the novel coronavirus or pose a serious risk of transmission should be legally punished.
