China’s Communist Party removed senior officials in the virus-stricken province of Hubei, as the country’s leadership looks to tighten control over its epidemic response and assuage public outrage over authorities’ handling of the crisis. The ruling party said Thursday that Jiang Chaoliang, a former banker and party secretary of Hubei province since 2016, had been fired. He will be replaced by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong. Ma Guoqiang, the party boss overseeing Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak, has also been replaced by Wang Zhonglin, an official from eastern Shandong province. News of the reshuffle came hours after China announced a significant jump in infection numbers in Hubei. The surge followed a change in official methodology for diagnosing and counting cases, a shift that revived questions about the reliability of China’s data and testing methods. ● The political shake-up in party ranks underscored Chinese leaders’ jitters about […]