BEIJING, Feb. 13 (CGTN) -- Ying Yong, former Shanghai mayor and deputy party chief of the metropolis, has been appointed Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at a time when central China's province has hit hard by the deadly novel coronavirus.

Before his Shanghai experience, the 63-year-old had served as the president of the provincial high court in eastern Zhejiang Province.

Whereas the Party secretary of the epicenter Wuhan, Hubei's provincial capital, has also been replaced. Wang Zhonglin, former Party secretary of Jinan, the provincial capital of eastern Shandong Province, will now be Wuhan's Party chief.

The appointments mark the first major change of Hubei's leading officials.