Corona virus spreads in China's prisons
10:23 am: In Chinese prisons in at least three provinces of the country, more than 450 inmates and 7 guards have been infected with the novel corona virus. Detention centers in Hubei province in central China, which is severely affected by the Covid-19 lung disease, are also affected, but also in eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Shandong, as the Global Times newspaper reported on Friday.

As a result, prison and judicial officers in Zhejiang and Shandong were released from their posts. In the Hubei province alone, 220 infections were reported - in a "handwritten report" by the prison administration because there was no computer-based reporting system, the newspaper reported.

There are a further 207 infections, including 7 police officers, at Rencheng Prison in Shandong. The provincial judicial administration party leader was fired because he had not prevented the outbreak, the newspaper said. In Zhejiang Province, 34 inmates were also infected at the Shilifang Detention Center, the paper reported on Twitter. They were brought to hospitals for treatment.

The virus could spread easily in the cramped and overcrowded Chinese prison with poor medical care, the "Global Times" quoted an official who did not want to be named. "It is not easy to discover suspect patients with inadequate medical facilities in detention centers and to prevent the transmission channels in good time."