Mongolia's Prime Minister has resigned following a protest over a hospital's treatment of a new mother who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, whose Mongolian People's Party holds a strong majority in the parliament known as the State Great Khural, stepped down Thursday night after accusing President Khaltmaagiin Battulga of the Democratic Party of orchestrating a political crisis.
A small protest broke out in the capital Ulaanbaatar Wednesday after TV footage appeared of a woman who had just given birth being escorted in slippers and a thin robe from the maternity ward to a special wing for COVID-19 patients while holding her newborn. Mongolia closed its borders last January and has held coronavirus cases to just 1,592, although many Mongolians have protested at the economic impact of control measures.
The incident comes against the background of the long-running political rivalry between Khurelsukh and Battulga. Khurelsukh is considered a likely presidential candidate to run against Battulga in elections to be held in June, but faces competition within his own party from wealthy businessman and former Prime Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar.