A hospital chief and a senior official of a health authority in China's Guangdong province have been fired over the deaths of five newborn babies, according to an article on the Yahoo website.

Guangdong Health Commission said the deaths at the Shunde Hospital of Southern Medical University in Foshan were a result of poor infection prevention and control.

The babies died after contracting an infection caused by Echovirus 11, a type of intestinal virus. Transmission takes place mainly through feces-to-mouth or by saliva, the Guangdong authority said.

“Investigations showed this is a serious medical accident caused by lax hospital management and a raft of malpractices including unsound hospital infection rules, infection regulations not implemented, a lack of infection supervision in its neonatal wards and not reporting infection cases as required,” it said.

Read the article.