Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has fired or disciplined 18 officials for dereliction of duty in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, the provincial discipline inspection authority said in a statement Friday.

Chen Yuanfei, vice mayor of Harbin, was given an administrative demerit. Fu Songbin, vice president of Harbin Medical University, was given an intra-Party warning and an administrative demerit, said the statement.

Harbin has reported 26 new confirmed cases and 19 asymptomatic infections since April 9, which revealed that the relevant officials of the city and the university did not effectively fulfill their responsibilities in the battle against the epidemic, according to the statement.