The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, assured the top leaders of the Asian giant today that the coronavirus epidemic is the most serious health crisis the country has experienced since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
“It is the one that extends faster, with the most infected and has been the most difficult to prevent and control,” said Xi in a meeting with the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the highest governing body of the country.
The meeting was joined by videoconference hundreds of party leaders at provincial, local and district levels, as well as military officials in those constituencies, according to the official Global Times newspaper.
The president urged all instances and cadres of the party to continue working “without rest” in the work of prevention and control and also in the objective of resuming work and production in the country “in an orderly manner”.
“The Chinese nation has experienced many hard tests in its history but it has never been overwhelmed. Instead, it has become more and more determined, growing and rising in the face of adversity, ”he said.
Xi stressed that the situation of the epidemic remains “serious and complex” and that “now is a crucial time to stop its spread”.
He also called for efforts to “completely unleash the immense potential” of China’s development and to fight to achieve the country’s economic and social goals for this year.
“No victory should be announced lightly until it is total,” he said while urging “firm, solid and meticulous efforts” in preventing and controlling the epidemic.
The president said that communication through the media “should be more effective” and said that the publication of information about the epidemic “has to be improved.”
In addition, he stressed that social stability “must be well safeguarded” and that illegal activities that disrupt medical treatment, epidemic prevention and economic and social order will have to be “severely punished.”
The massive and unusual meeting of the leadership and the cadres of the party by videoconference takes place one day before the governing body of the Popular National Assembly (ANP) decides tomorrow on the postponement of the annual meeting of the Chinese legislature scheduled from 5 of March.
The ANP management should also study a proposal to prohibit the trade of wild animals in the country and the consumption of game meat, practices that are probably at the origin of the new coronavirus outbreak, according to experts.
The deaths from the epidemic in China rose in the last 24 hours to 97 to reach 2,442 deaths, while 648 new infected were registered to a total of 76,936, the National Health Commission of the Asian country reported today.
According to the source, until last local midnight (16.00 GMT on Saturday), 4,148 suspected cases were detected, while 22,888 patients had recovered from the disease and had been discharged.
From NuevoDiario
