Briefly

Former vice-premier Zou Jiahua, 99, dies

Zou Jiahua, a former vice-premier of China's State Council, died of illness at age 99 in Beijing at 11:42 pm on Sunday, an official statement said. Zou also once served as a member of the Political Bureau of the 14th Communist Party of China Central Committee, and as vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress. In the statement, Zou was extolled as an excellent Party member, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier, proletarian revolutionist and an outstanding leader in efforts to boost China's economic development, national defense industry and socialist legal system.

Acute respiratory infections declining

The spread of acute respiratory infectious diseases in China has been trending downward, Peng Zhibin, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Monday. Influenza remains the primary virus in circulation, and the nation is still in the middle of a flu epidemic season. However, the intensity of the virus' spread has declined, she said. She added that the positivity rates of mycoplasma pneumonia and other respiratory viruses are also decreasing and that of COVID-19 remains at a low level.

Death toll climbs to 10 in Sichuan landslide

The death toll from the landslide in Sichuan's Junlian county has risen to 10, with 19 people still missing, local authorities confirmed on Monday. The landslide, which struck at 11:50 am on Feb 8 in Jinping village, buried 10 homes and affected over 100 hectares of farmland. Authorities have relocated 767 residents from 139 households to safer areas and initiated post-disaster reconstruction efforts, including selecting sites for resettlement and planning rebuilding projects. Local officials are working to restore a normal sense of daily life for affected residents.

China Daily - Xinhua