Ahead of the Two Sessions, China Emphasizes Achievements: "Victory in the War Against COVID-19"

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Kim Hyunjung] Ahead of the Lianghui (National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), which officially marks the launch of President Xi Jinping's third term leadership, the Chinese government has begun to boast about its achievements, claiming victory in the war against COVID-19.

According to China's state-run CCTV on the 16th, the Standing Committee of the Communist Party Central Political Bureau received a report on COVID-19 prevention and control at a meeting chaired by President Xi on the same day and made this assessment. The Standing Committee stated, "China's response to COVID-19 successfully avoided the spread of more lethal variant viruses, effectively protected the safety and health of the public, and secured time to win the war against COVID-19," emphasizing the rationale and effectiveness of the now-abandoned 'Zero-COVID' policy.

The Zero-COVID policy, which meant not tolerating even a single confirmed COVID-19 case, was implemented nationwide under President Xi's leadership for the past three years. However, it was abruptly abandoned at the end of last year due to domestic and international backlash and economic downturns.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Standing Committee praised this prevention effort as a "miracle of a populous country," self-praising, "We successfully avoided a widespread outbreak of a virus with relatively strong pathogenicity and relatively high fatality rate, effectively protecting the life safety and physical health of the people, and bought precious time to win the battle against the epidemic." Furthermore, "With the country's optimized prevention work since November last year, more than 200 million people have been treated, and about 800,000 severe patients were effectively treated," emphasizing, "The mortality rate remained at one of the lowest levels worldwide." They added, "This proves that the Communist Party of China's significant judgment and policy decisions were completely correct," and "It was a strong measure fully recognized by the Chinese public, and the achievements were tremendous."

However, the Standing Committee noted that COVID-19 is still prevalent worldwide and mutations are occurring, stating, "Based on virus mutations and vaccine protection status, the next phase of vaccination work should be scientifically planned, and efforts should be made to continuously increase vaccination rates among the elderly."

China's state-run Global Times (GT) also reported this content, citing experts who said, "The World Health Organization (WHO) is highly likely to soon declare the end of the COVID-19 pandemic." In an interview with Lu Hongzhou, director of Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, it was emphasized, "Based on existing studies showing that cellular immunity remains elevated for 6 to 7 months after infection, the likelihood of another COVID-19 outbreak in China within six months is low," and "Effective vaccination and the use of antiviral drugs are key factors in preventing severe cases and reducing mortality."