Zhou Xianwang made the remarks in an interview on Monday with state broadcaster CCTV amid rising public anger over the city’s management of the crisis. Zhou defended the decision to lock down Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, as an effective way to curb the spread, and said he and Wuhan party chief Ma Guoqiang were willing to take responsibility. “If people want to pursue accountability [about the lock down] and the public has a strong opinion, we are willing to step down,” he said. Zhou also admitted that city government’s information disclosure had been “unsatisfactory”.
Away from the mainland, Taiwan reported its fifth confirmed infection on Monday afternoon – a woman who went to Wuhan in October for work who returned to the island on January 20.
