Coronavirus: Senior Chinese officials 'removed' as death toll hits 1,000

Two senior health officials in the Hubei province of China were removed from their posts as the death toll hit 1,000.

Zhang Jin, party secretary of the health commission for Hubei and Ling Yingzi, director of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission, both lost their jobs, state media reported on Tuesday.

The deputy director of the local Red Cross was also removed for "dereliction of duty" over "handling of donations", reported the BBC.

There were hundreds of sackings, investigations and warnings in Hubei and other provinces during the epidemic, according to state media.

Yet withdrawing from a certain position - while called a censure - does not always imply that the individual will be absolutely fired, as this can often mean demotion.

And the governing Communist Party can also punish politicians, as well as suspend them from their positions.

For example, Red Cross deputy head, Zhang Qin was issued "a serious warning from within the party as well as a severe administrative demerit," state media reported.

The deputy head of the Wuhan statistics office was fired earlier this month, also with a "severe intra-party alert as well as a significant administrative demerit for violating relevant regulations to supply face masks".

The head of Huanggang's health commission, the second-most-hit area after Wuhan in Hubei, has also been removed.

Chinese officials have been strongly criticised in recent days for their handling of the situation.

The death of a doctor whose early warnings were suppressed by authorities sparked widespread public anger.

What's the latest in China?

Some 103 died alone in the province of Hubei on Monday, and the nationwide death toll now stands at 1,016.

But the nationwide number of new infections dropped nearly 20 per cent from the day before, from 3,062 to 2,478.

On Monday Hubei's health commission reported 2,097 new cases in the city, down from 2,618 the day before.

There are now more than 42,200 confirmed cases across China, in the country's most serious public health issue since the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic.

The Hubei Health Commission said that by the end of Monday, the province had a total of 31,728 cases and 974 fatalities, a death rate of 3%.

More than three-quarters of the deaths have been in Hubei's provincial capital, Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak. The city of 11 million has been in lockdown for weeks.

A World Health Organization mission arrived in China on Monday to work with Chinese officials.

The mission is led by Bruce Aylward, who oversaw the WHO's 2014-2016 response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

In a rare public appearance amid the outbreak, China's President Xi Jinping on Monday visited health staff in Beijing treating patients infected with the new coronavirus.

He wore a face mask during his meeting with health workers in Beijing but is yet to visit Wuhan.

President Xi urged "more decisive measures" to combat the virus and said "we must have confidence that we will eventually win this battle against the epidemic".

What about the rest of the world?

Four new UK cases were announced on Monday - taking the total number of people infected in the UK to eight. The government has warned of a "serious and imminent threat".

Meanwhile, 65 more people have tested positive on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship moored off Japan - meaning 135 out of 3,700 passengers have caught the virus.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed the outbreak would disappear in April due to warmer weather.