Top officials in the Chinese province of Hubei—the heart of the coronavirus outbreak—have been fired by China’s communist government after another 15,000 cases of the deadly sickness were confirmed Thursday. The leadership of China’s Communist Party is trying to tighten its control of the coronavirus in the face of growing public anger about how the outbreak has been handled. The Washington Post reports Jiang Chaoliang, party secretary of Hubei province since 2016, has been fired. Ma Guoqiang, the party boss overseeing Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the outbreak, has also been replaced. The total case numbers in Hubei province were revised upward by an additional 15,000 Thursday after the Chinese government loosened its definition of a confirmed case. The death tally also shot up by a further 242. The National Health Commission said Thursday the new total number of cases for the whole country is 59,804 with 1,367 deaths.
