Xi leads anti-virus war toward victory
Medical workers clear the facility after the last patients left the Wuchang temporary hospital in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, March 10. The same day saw the last two of all the sixteen temporary hospitals shut down in the city, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Fei Maohua/XINHUA
President Xi Jinping on March 10 inspected the COVID-19 outbreak epicenter in central China, pledging a continuous fight toward victory as prevention and control efforts have turned the tide.
The inspection in Wuhan, Hubei Province, took the president to a hospital treating severely ill COVID-19 patients and a residential community. He visited patients, medics, community residents and workers, police officers, military personnel, officials, and volunteers who have been fighting the novel coronavirus.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, called for firm, solid and meticulous prevention and control efforts to defend Hubei and Wuhan.
Xi said that thanks to hard work, the situation in Hubei and Wuhan has shown positive changes with important progress, but the task of prevention and control remains arduous.
Xi stressed continuing to take epidemic prevention and control as a task of paramount importance.
Praising the people of Wuhan, Xi said the positive trend in epidemic control could not have been achieved without their sacrifice, devotion and perseverance.
With their concrete actions, the people of Wuhan have demonstrated the strength and spirit of China, as well as the Chinese people’s love for their family and nation, which enables them to stick together through thick and thin, he said.
On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, Xi sent condolences to people who died in the epidemic and people who sacrificed their lives fighting on the front line.
Deployed and guided by Xi, 346 medical teams of over 40,000 medical workers have been drafted in from all over the country to Hubei, easing the local shortage of medical staff. Huoshenshan Hospital and Leishenshan Hospital were efficiently built and sixteen temporary hospitals were also put into operation in Wuhan. Numerous medical resources and daily necessities have been sent to Hubei to tackle medical shortages and to satisfy citizen’s basic living needs. What’s more, experts of various fields have been working together to improve the diagnosis and treatment process and keep mortality rates as low as possible while increasing recovery rates, said Xiao Yongping, a professor with Wuhan University School of Law.
Xiao said that these measures have earned China high praise from the international community, including the WHO. China has bought time and acquired experience for the rest of the world’s battle against COVID-19.
Shi Yudan, deputy director of the Institute of International and Comparative Education at South China Normal University, pointed out that scientists have played a key role in the battle against the virus. They have pooled their strengths to develop medicines, vaccines and diagnostic methods.
Wang Zongli, dean of the School of Marxism at Northwest Normal University, said that it is necessary to value both epidemic prevention and control as well as people’s well-being. While implementing preventative measures, we also need to relieve social psychology and people’s stress.
On the premise that the epidemic is under control, we need to promptly come up with a plan for reopening Wuhan and restarting operations in Hubei, so that they can gradually resume production and normal life, Xiao said.
Xiao added that we need to encourage collaboration among relevant sectors, higher education institutions and research institutes to study Hubei’s experience fighting against the virus. This experience can be applied to the scientific governance of China’s big cities in event of emergencies, the modernization of urban and rural community governance, the improvement of the global public health governance system, and the prevention and control of COVID-19 in other countries.
edited by WENG RONG