New Leaders Appointed to Epidemic-hit Areas

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China released a statement on February 13, appointing former Shanghai mayor Ying Yong as Party Secretary of Hubei Province and Wang Zhonglin, former Party secretary of Jinan, Shandong Province, as the new Party Secretary of Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, the center of the Covid-19 outbreak. 　
　
Former Hubei Party secretary Jiang Chaoliang and former Party secretary of Wuhan Ma Guoqiang will no longer hold the posts, the statement said. 　
　
Although the statement did not go into details, media reports alleged the moves were aimed at dampening public outrage over the poor handling of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the city and province, which has infected 77,041 and killed 2,445 in China as of February 22, with many being left to die untreated due to a huge shortage of beds and medical supplies.　
 　
As Ying and Wang have extensive backgrounds in legal and political affairs, analysts said the central government hopes the new leaders will be stricter and more decisive in controlling the epidemic, which will have a knock-on effect on China’s economic growth throughout 2020.