Top leadership hails victory over COVID

China has secured a major, decisive victory in fighting COVID-19, creating a miracle in the history of human civilization of a country with a vast population successfully prevailing over a pandemic, according to a key meeting of the Communist Party of China on Thursday.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the Party's top leadership, and made an important speech.

The meeting heard reports about the latest developments of the nation's epidemic response, according to a statement released after the meeting.

It has been proved that the major judgment of the CPC Central Committee with regard to the development of the epidemic, its major decisions on epidemic response work and its major readjustment of epidemic prevention and control strategies are totally correct, the meeting's participants said.

The measures formulated by the CPC Central Committee are forceful, well-accepted by the public and tremendously effective, they said.

The statement hailed China's "extremely extraordinary" efforts in fighting the epidemic for more than three years, saying that the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core has always put people and their lives first and foremost, and united and led the whole Party and people of all ethnic groups in concerted efforts to combat the epidemic.

With a strong sense of historical responsibility and strategic resolve, the CPC Central Committee has constantly optimized and adjusted epidemic prevention and control policies and measures in line with the development of the virus, and efficiently coordinated epidemic response and socioeconomic development, the statement said.

China has successfully evaded the wide spread of virus strains with a high pathogenicity and a high fatality rate, effectively protecting the lives and health of the people and winning valuable time to prevail over the epidemic, it added.

Since November, China has treated 200 million infected patients, including nearly 800,000 critically ill patients, and the death rate from COVID-19 has remained at the lowest level in the world, the statement said.

The meeting's participants stressed that COVID-19 remains prevalent worldwide and the virus continues to mutate, while the current overall situation of epidemic prevention and control in China is getting better.

They urged efforts to improve epidemic response measures and mechanisms in the new stage, strengthen the healthcare system, and firmly consolidate the hard-won achievements.

The meeting's participants called for strengthening the capacity for epidemic monitoring and early warning, improving the epidemic monitoring and information reporting systems, and taking emergency prevention and control measures if necessary.

They urged scientific planning for vaccination in the next stage, saying that the vaccination rate of the elderly should be continuously improved and production and reserves of medical supplies should be increased.

They also called for coordinated efforts in promoting research and development in the health sector to raise the overall level of health-related technology.