Coronavirus: China sends new officials to take charge of Hubei outbreak

People place flowers outside a Wuhan hospital to pay tribute to Dr Li Wenliang, who died on Feb 7, 2020, from coronavirus infection and who issued an early warning about the outbreak. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - China has assigned two new officials to be in direct control of the efforts to manage the coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province.

Chen Yixin, who was previously the top Communist Party secretary in the capital of Hubei, will be the the deputy head of the central government's directing group on Hubei, according to a WeChat blog affiliated with state media.

The group is in charge of sorting out the epidemic in the province and is led by Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan.

Wang Hesheng, who is the deputy head of China's National Health Commission, will become a member of Hubei's standing committee, which is the top decision-making body for the province, according to the same blog Taoran Notes, which is connected to the Economic Daily Newspaper.

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