BEIJING -- China held a meeting on Tuesday morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to commend role models in the country's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

Prior to the meeting, Chinese leaders led by Xi Jinping met with role models in the fight and had a group photo with them.

After the meeting began, participants observed a moment of silence for every life lost due to COVID-19.

Then, President Xi Jinping presented medals to recipients of the Medal of the Republic and the national honorary title for their outstanding contributions to the country's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Medal of the Republic was conferred on renowned respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan.

The national honorary title, "the People's Hero," was conferred on Zhang Boli, a traditional Chinese medicine expert who presided over the research of the COVID-19 treatment scheme combining traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, Zhang Dingyu, head of Wuhan's designated coronavirus-treating Jinyintan Hospital, and Chen Wei, a military medical scientist who made major achievements in COVID-19-related basic research and development of vaccine and protective medicine.

"I would like to sincerely thank the Party and the state for granting this honor to us four medical workers," Zhong said at the meeting. "This represents the full acknowledgement of the healthcare professionals' work by the Party and the state."

Zhong said there should be no relaxation in epidemic response despite the initial victory in China's COVID-19 fight, and pledged to cooperate with colleagues around the country and the world to continue working on tracing virus sources, blocking transmission routes, and developing fast diagnosis, medicines and vaccines.

Xi signed a presidential order on Aug 11 awarding the four persons after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress voted to adopt a decision to confer the national medal and honorary title on the four renowned specialists.

In addition, 1,499 individuals, 500 groups, 186 CPC members and 150 primary-level Party organizations were commended for their roles in fighting the epidemic. Another 14 Party members were posthumously awarded.