One person's concealment led to the entire village being locked down; do not harbor a fluke mentality during the epidemic
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
Case review
[2] On July 21, 2021, Mao Mouning traveled from her residence in Nanjing to Yangzhou, staying at her sister Mao Mouya's home (Niansi New Village, Yangzhou).
[3] On the evening of July 27, Mao Mouning went to Yangzhou Friendship Hospital on her own due to coughing and fever, and was placed under control. Hanjiang District, Yangzhou immediately activated emergency plans, swiftly deploying city-wide nucleic acid testing and epidemic tracing work, sealing off over 1,100 households and more than 3,000 people in Building 42 of Niansi New Village.
[4] On July 28, after Mao Mouning's nucleic acid test initially showed a positive result, she was immediately sent to a designated hospital for isolation and treatment. Subsequent preliminary investigations revealed that Mao Mouning not only left her Nanjing residence, which had already implemented lockdown management measures, without authorization, but also failed to proactively report her Nanjing residence history to the community upon arriving in Yangzhou, as required by the local epidemic prevention and control headquarters' "Notice on Implementing Lockdown Management in Various Residential Communities." She frequently visited crowded places such as restaurants, shops, and mahjong parlors, causing the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in Yangzhou and resulting in serious consequences.
[5] On July 29, the Yangzhou public security department filed a case against Mao Mouning (female, 64 years old) on suspicion of the crime of impairing infectious disease prevention. The case is currently under further investigation.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
[6] Article 330 [Crime of Impairing Infectious Disease Prevention]
Violating the provisions of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, under any of the following circumstances, causing the spread or a serious risk of spread of Class A infectious diseases and infectious diseases for which Class A prevention and control measures are legally determined, 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 water supply units does not meet the hygiene standards prescribed by the state;
(2) Refusing to carry out disinfection treatment of sewage, waste, sites, and articles contaminated by infectious disease pathogens in accordance with the hygiene requirements proposed by disease prevention and control institutions;
(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 administration department of the State Council and is likely to cause the spread of the infectious disease;
(4) Selling or transporting articles contaminated or likely to be contaminated by infectious disease pathogens in epidemic areas without carrying out disinfection treatment;
(5) Refusing to implement the prevention and control measures proposed by the people's government 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
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, judicial and administrative authorities have acted swiftly, combining criminal penalties with administrative sanctions to severely punish illegal and criminal activities related to the epidemic, playing a crucial role in curbing the spread of the virus and protecting the safety of people's lives and property.
The crime of impairing infectious disease prevention and control has served as a line of defense in strict epidemic control, achieving significant results in consolidating epidemic prevention efforts. At the onset of the pandemic, differing views on this crime within legal theory and practice, along with the fact that COVID-19 was not classified as a Class A infectious disease under the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, led to a brief period of legal vacuum in the application of criminal law to epidemic-related cases. On February 6, 2020, with the issuance of the "Opinions on Legally Punishing Illegal and Criminal Acts Impairing the Prevention and Control of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic" jointly by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice, the conditions for applying the crime of impairing infectious disease prevention and control were clarified, and the boundary between this crime and the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous means was delineated. It was specified that acts of refusing to implement prevention and control measures proposed by health and epidemic prevention agencies in accordance with the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, which cause the spread of the novel coronavirus or pose a serious risk of spread, should be convicted and punished as the crime of impairing infectious disease prevention and control.
In March 2021, the "Criminal Law Amendment (XI)" was enacted, further modifying and improving the crime of impairing infectious disease prevention and control. Incorporating the experiences and lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and absorbing reasonable content from relevant judicial interpretations, the law expanded the scope of conditions for criminalization, bringing Class B infectious diseases (such as COVID-19) subject to Class A infectious disease prevention and control measures into the legal protection framework. This amendment to the Criminal Law activated the dynamic adjustment capability of the crime of impairing infectious disease prevention and control, while ensuring alignment with laws and regulations such as the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, fully reflecting the social protection function of criminal law.
The author reminds: During the epidemic, do not take chances; once the virus spreads, you will face severe legal punishment!
