Most of those deaths have been in Hubei, where there were more than 33,000 confirmed patients.

But a large number of suspected patients are believed to have gone undiagnosed and untreated in Wuhan and smaller cities in the province, and local officials have been blamed.

Independent political economist Hu Xingdou said Chen’s appointment came “at a time of government dysfunction and social disorder”. “It will help improve the situation, by [Chen] directly telling local officials what to do and watching them do it,” he said.

Chen arrived in Wuhan on Saturday, according to Changan Sword, the WeChat account of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. That was a week after his article on modern governance was published in the party’s flagship journal Qiushi, or “Seeking Truth”, on February 1. Now he is getting the chance to enforce it.

While Vice-Premier Sun’s team in Hubei included a number of top public health officials, Chen would play the discipline and political role, according to Hu.

“It also suggests that Xi is not happy about the performance of frontline officials and feels the need to strengthen Sun’s team, which is the de facto centre [of power] of Hubei,” he said.

As coronavirus cases get priority in Wuhan, other patients are losing hope

Chen has been working until 2am every day since he arrived, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. He began by calling a meeting with Wuhan officials soon after he arrived in the city, laying out three mandatory tasks: to check and quarantine every suspected case, to send officials to the front line and to maintain stability, according to Changan Sword. After introducing himself, Chen apparently told local officials, “I’m fighting together with you again”.

Before he became chief of the law enforcement body in 2018, Chen spent 15 months in Wuhan as its party secretary and as Hubei province’s deputy party secretary. In that time, he sharply criticised officials who were slack, and their lack of reforms to cut red tape and spur investment.

At least 500 Wuhan medical staff infected with coronavirus

In 2015, he was promoted to deputy director of the general office of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, a top-level party organ founded and chaired by Xi to oversee the overhaul of the country’s political, economic and defence systems, among others.

“This time Chen is supposed to be the guy with the emperor’s sword,” said Chen Daoyin, an independent political scientist and a former Shanghai-based professor.

“He is expected to help restore discipline for the party and government, to oversee law and policy enforcement and control consensus, as well as coordinating relief efforts across the provinces.”

Chen Yixin’s track record suggests he is a capable problem-solver. In 2014, as the party boss of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang, he was praised by Hu Heping, then head of the provincial organisation department, for “calmly handling various kinds of risks” and helping the city’s economy get back to rapid growth after a debt crisis.

During the height of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic in Beijing, then-president Hu Jintao sent Wang to the capital city as mayor to handle the crisis and contain the disease, replacing Meng Xuenong. Meng and then-health minister Zhang Wenkang were sacked for negligence over Sars.

Wang, who is now vice-president, was in control in Beijing at the time, but Chen Yixin would not be in the same position, the political scientist said.

“Chen’s role is temporary. It suggests that key officials in Hubei and Wuhan may not be replaced immediately,” he said.

Analysts expected Chen to introduce forceful measures to maintain social stability, including heavy controls on media and people expressing their views online.

More recently, as protests erupted in Hong Kong over an extradition bill in June, Chen said China needed to strengthen its guard against online threats that could sway public opinion.

“As our country nears the centre of the world stage, imported risks … are on the rise and have become the biggest uncertainty in our domestic security,” he wrote in Study Times, a newspaper affiliated with top academy the Central Party School.

He has continued in that vein in Wuhan. Meeting officials on Saturday, Chen said they should make plans for “two battlefields, both online and offline, guide the consensus, strictly handle online rumours and promote touching stories taking place at the front line of preventing and combating disease”.