General secretary stresses importance of perseverance in tackling pandemic

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has underlined the need to put the people's lives first and stick to the dynamic zero-COVID strategy with scientific and targeted measures, in order to speedily curb the spread of the virus nationwide.

Xi made the remark on Thursday while presiding over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. During the meeting, the top CPC leadership analyzed the current COVID-19 situation in the country and urged stringent measures to respond to the virus.

While addressing the meeting, Xi highlighted the measures the nation has taken to effectively control the virus since it started implementing the regular epidemic prevention and control policy, saying that the nation's COVID-19 response strategy has, to a maximum extent, protected people's lives, safety and health.

The fact that the country takes the lead in the world in economic development and pandemic response fully demonstrates the nation's strength and capability in the prevention and control of the disease as well as the marked advantages of the CPC's leadership and the socialist system, Xi said.

He stressed the importance of perseverance in fighting the pandemic, and urged all-out efforts to take substantial and targeted steps in response to COVID-19.

Xi called for raising the level of virus prevention and control through scientific and precise approaches, constantly optimizing COVID response measures, and stepping up scientific and technological progress in vaccines, rapid testing kits and medicine research and development.

He urged coordinated efforts to promote socioeconomic development and respond to the pandemic, saying effective measures must be taken to strive for the best results in virus prevention and control at the lowest cost in order to reduce the impact of the pandemic on socioeconomic development with maximum efforts.

The meeting came amid an increase in locally transmitted cases around the country in the past week. As of Wednesday, there were 1,317 confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland, including 1,226 locally transmitted cases.

The participants at the meeting emphasized the importance of implementing "early detection, early reporting, early isolation and early treatment" measures, and called for stringent measures in the prevention and control of the virus, according to the statement released after the meeting.

While strengthening guidance in reporting cases in key areas, they urged speedy measures to control local clusters of cases, the statement said.

The meeting's participants stressed the importance of ensuring the production and supply of the people's daily necessities as well as meeting their needs for medical services to enable them to have normal and orderly lives.

They underlined the need to speed up reform of disease control systems and called for comprehensively raising the capacity of epidemic monitoring, early warning and emergency response, the statement said.

Efforts should be strengthened in border areas, schools and universities in epidemic prevention and control, they added.

The meeting's participants also underscored the importance of vaccinations and urged raising the vaccination rate by expanding publicity work.

Efforts should be made to guide public opinion about the overall situation of the pandemic's development by publicizing related information in a timely manner as well as the progress of the government's measures in COVID-19 response, and actively addressing the public's concerns, they said.

The meeting's participants also urged Party and government officials at various levels to fulfill their responsibilities in pandemic control and give priority to virus prevention in their work. Those who neglect their duty in pandemic control should be held accountable, they added.