Coronavirus infections surpass 1,900 as China appoints top-level team to manage crisis
- President Xi Jinping says people from different ethnic groups and sectors must work together to control outbreak
- Leading group will be guided by Politburo Standing Committee – the party’s top leadership tier
The group would be set up by the party’s Central Committee and be directed by the Standing Committee, the report said.
The news was announced on Saturday as three doctors in Beijing were reported to have been infected with the coronavirus, according to state-run China National Radio. Among the three confirmed cases, which were diagnosed on Tuesday and Saturday, two had returned from Wuhan and the third did not go to the city but sat next to a doctor back from Wuhan in a meeting in Beijing.
The number of virus infections in mainland China now stands at almost 2,000 and the death toll at 56.
Lower ranking party members are often reluctant to act until ordered to do so, and there have been calls for punishments to be handed down to those who may have been slow to respond in the first days of the coronavirus outbreak.
