The People’s Republic of China has moved to

dismiss key provincial officials within the Communist Party as the new

coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak ripping through the country shows no sign of

slowing down.

In fact, cases have doubled in China’s

Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic, as it announced 242 new deaths

from the novel coronavirus on Thursday—twice as many reported on the previous

day.

New infections in Hubei jumped by more than

14,000.

In the major provincial leadership shakeup, Shanghai mayor Ying Yong replaces Jiang Chaoliang as Hubei Communist Party chief, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Xinhua further noted that Wuhan Communist

Party chief Ma Guoqiang has also been replaced by Wang Zhonglin, party chief of

Jinan city in Shandong province.

These latest sackings follow two officials

in charge of the provincial health authority being dismissed earlier this week.

The spike in cases is partly due to a broader

definition of what constitutes a confirmed case, to include people diagnosed based

on their symptoms rather than testing positive for the coronavirus.

Outside mainland China, there at least 570

confirmed cases of coronavirus in more than 25 countries and territories.