Chinese officials punished for changing health codes of bank depositors

A woman uses her phone to scan the health code at the entrance of a mall in Beijing on June 20, 2022. - AFP

SHANGHAI (Reuters): Authorities have punished five officials in China's Zhengzhou city for deliberately turning thousands of citizens' health codes red, the local anti-corruption authority said in a statement published late on Wednesday (June 22).

The local government announcement comes after depositors of small rural banks in Henan province, where Zhengzhou is located, publicly alleged that their health codes abruptly changed from green to red when they began to travel to Henan to protest blocked withdrawals.