Remarks on Novel Coronavirus Response Delivered at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee

Xi Jinping

February 3, 2020

Not long after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, on January 7, I set requirements for disease prevention and control while chairing a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee Political Bureau. On January 20, I made comments on a report on this work, pointing out that it is imperative to attach great importance to the outbreak, and to do everything in our power to control its spread. I asked Party committees and governments at all levels and the departments concerned to give top priority to the health and safety of the people and take effective measures to stop the spread of the disease. On January 22, in view of the grave challenges to prevention and control work posed by the disease’s rapid spread, I categorically requested that Hubei Province adopt full and strict controls on outflows of people. On January 25, the first day of the Chinese New Year, I once again chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, at which we undertook further studies, further planning, and further preparations for disease prevention and control, especially with regard to patient treatment, and decided to establish the Central Leading Group for Novel Coronavirus Prevention and Control.

Since January 25, prevention and control of the disease has been the issue I’ve been most concerned about. I have been closely following its spread and the progress we’ve made in prevention and control, and have continually issued oral and written directions. The CPC Central Committee issued the Notice on Strengthening Party Leadership to Provide Firm Political Guarantee for Winning the Battle Against Novel Coronavirus.

The Central Leading Group for Novel Coronavirus Prevention and Control has held many meetings to study and develop strategies for disease prevention and control, and the steering teams dispatched to areas badly hit by the epidemic have also been actively carrying out their work. The joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council has strengthened coordination in solving pressing problems without delay. All departments concerned have performed their respective duties, and the armed forces have actively provided support to local governments. Every region has established a leading group headed by the principal leaders of its Party Committee and government and activated a Level I public health emergency response.

All Party, government, and military departments, people’s organizations, enterprises, and public institutions have sprung into action and spared no effort in fighting the battle against the disease. Medical personnel around the country are working selflessly and courageously on the frontline. The Chinese people are united as one and demonstrating an unyielding will, launching an all-out people’s war against the epidemic. Full mobilization, comprehensive planning, and all-around strengthening of the prevention and control efforts are now well under way across the country.

Under the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee and with concerted efforts being made on all sides, prevention and control work is proceeding effectively and has earned approval from all sectors of society and the international community. During my meeting with the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Dr Tedros praised China for acting at an unprecedented speed and scale. He said that this is a reflection on China’s robust institutions, that other countries should learn from China’s experience, and that he was confident the measures China has taken would effectively bring the disease under control and eventually defeat it.

Overall, all the CPC Central Committee’s judgments about the epidemic situation have been accurate, all our work has been planned out in a timely manner, and all the moves we’ve taken have been effective. The most important thing now is that we do solid, meticulous work to ensure full implementation. Here, I would like to emphasize the following points.

I. On the current situation and priorities of novel coronavirus containment

Our efforts for novel coronavirus prevention and control have a direct bearing on the health and safety of our people, on China’s economic development and social stability, and on the opening up of our country. We must work together as one with confidence and resolve, ensuring science-based prevention and treatment, adopting targeted policies, and racing against time, to resolutely curb the spread of the virus and win the battle against the disease. At present, priority should be placed on the following work.

First, we need to strengthen unified leadership over novel coronavirus prevention and control.

We must coordinate all efforts across the country. Party committees and governments at all levels must resolutely obey the CPC Central Committee’s unified command, coordination, and deployment, and ensure all orders and prohibitions are followed without fail. Implementation of the CPC Central Committee’s decisions and strategies by all regions and departments has been generally good, but there are also some weak links and problems that deserve our attention. These weaknesses must be shored up, and loopholes closed off as soon as possible. Prevention and control of the disease is not just a matter of medical and health care. Rather, it is an all-encompassing effort and an all-out war. Support for winning the battle must be provided in all aspects of our work. As the epidemic situation changes rapidly and new circumstances and new problems keep cropping up in different fields, we must ensure close follow-ups, timely analysis, and prompt action as well as firm, effective, and relentless efforts in all aspects of our work.

When taking measures, each region and department needs to consider not only its own prevention and control needs, but also the impact on key areas and the country as a whole. Those who fail to effectively implement the CPC Central Committee’s decisions and plans must be called out and ordered to put things right immediately. Those who fail to obey unified command and deployment or are only concerned with the interests of their own areas or departments, or who are unwilling to do the right thing, work in a superficial way, or shirk their responsibilities will not only be individually held to account, but in serious cases the principal Party and government officials concerned will also be called to account. Any dereliction or neglect of duty will be punished in accordance with law and discipline.

Second, we need to strengthen epidemic control in key areas.

Only by concentrating our efforts on bringing the disease under control in key areas can we fundamentally and rapidly reverse its spread across the country. We must focus on the regional coordination of prevention and treatment forces, pool medical resources and protective equipment to support the frontline, and prioritize the needs of medical workers and patients.

Hubei Province and Wuhan City in particular remain the foremost priority in the national prevention and control effort – most infected people in other parts of our country have had contact with people from Hubei. Therefore, if we can stabilize the epidemic in Hubei, we can stabilize the whole country. On the one hand, we should continue to strengthen prevention and control throughout the province, strictly implementing measures for early detection, reporting, quarantine and treatment of cases, stepping up epidemic monitoring, and treating patients at designated hospitals, while requiring all close contacts to remain under medical observation at home. On the other hand, we should continue to reinforce measures to prevent the epidemic from spreading outside the province. Civil aviation, railway, highway, and waterborne passenger transport routes out of Hubei have been shut, and this has played an important role in the control of the spread of the virus around the country. However, the risks posed by some people leaving the province through other means cannot be ignored.

In Hubei’s neighboring provinces and provinces with high population mobility, the virus has been spreading rapidly over the past few days, as evidenced by the soaring numbers of newly confirmed cases. We must get local Party committees and governments to fulfill their responsibilities, strengthen grid-based management of prevention and control efforts in local communities, carry out blanket searches, and take more rigorous, targeted and effective measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic. It is necessary to promptly identify risks and weak links in the prevention of outbreaks among return travelers, ensure that prevention and control duties are performed at places of origin and destination, and do a good job in passenger health monitoring and the disinfection and ventilation of vehicles and transportation facilities. Beijing holds a position of unique importance, as it faces mounting pressure from a large number of returning travelers. To curb the spread of the epidemic, we need to improve measures, strengthen control over key groups, reduce the mobility of sources of infection, and minimize flows of people and close contact.

Third, we need to raise the hospital admission and cure rates while lowering the infection and death rates.

This is a prominent task in prevention and control work at present. Hospitals dedicated to admitting and treating coronavirus patients must be completed and put into use as soon as possible, and more medical workers should be sent from around the country to assist Wuhan and the rest of Hubei as needed, while ensuring that steps are in place to support the physical and mental health of these workers. We should coordinate the deployment of personnel effectively, bringing together the most capable and experienced health workers to achieve coordinated treatment of severe cases, and try our very best to bring the fatality rate down. In areas with high incidence rates, if conditions allow, the “Xiaotangshan Hospital” model should be adopted to strengthen treatment efforts. We should also see that effective methods used by hospitals to treat patients with severe conditions are shared in a timely manner.

Fourth, we need to step up efforts to tackle tough problems in research.

Scientific and technological support is indispensable for defeating the epidemic. It is crucial to scientifically determine the origin of the virus, identify sources of infection and routes of transmission as quickly as possible, keep close track of virus mutations, and develop response strategies and measures accordingly. As I pointed out in 2016, we should explore an open tendering system to select the best candidates, regardless of background, to lead the development of key core technologies. We need to mobilize universities, research institutes, and enterprises in the research and development of vaccines and medicines needed to combat coronavirus, and promote synergy between scientific research, clinical treatment, and epidemic control efforts, so as to speed up progress on the basis of science. All relevant data and case information, unless deemed to be confidential by law, should be shared among our country’s scientific community, once national security requirements are met. Studies of the virus’ transmissibility, virulence, and other key features conducted by experts in clinical medicine, epidemiology, virology, and other fields should be organized so that practical and effective breakthroughs can be made as soon as possible. We should encourage experts and scholars to enhance their professionalism and sense of responsibility and provide more professional advice and suggestions on the basis of research.