Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a leadership meeting on fighting COVID-19 on March 17, Global Times reports. That English-language state daily summarized his message to the meeting: “He stressed science-based and accurate measures and the adherence to the dynamic zero-COVID policy to curb the spread of the epidemic soonest.” This message was welcomed by top Chinese epidemiologists as having “injected … anchoring energy” into China’s COVID-19 fight, right when China faces its worst outbreak in two years, with some 20,000 domestically transmitted infections since March 1, affecting 28 provincial-level regions, the daily reported. (https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1255198.shtml)
“Victory comes from perseverance,” Xi told the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, where the discussion took place. Xi reportedly asked all departments and regions to prepare to face “complexity and difficulty” in responding to COVID-19 at home and abroad; called for further scientific and technological innovation in research and development of vaccines, rapid testing reagents, and medicines for more targeted prevention and control; and emphasized that more effective measures are required to achieve the maximum prevention and control at a minimum cost, reducing the epidemic’s impact on socioeconomic development as much as possible.
