Xi urges swift pandemic control to reduce socio-economic impact

Beijing, Mar 18 (EFE).- President Xi Jinping Thursday said scientific measures and strict adherence to the “zero-covid” policy were needed to minimize the pandemic impact on China’s socio-economic development.

Xi chaired a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, which consists of the senior-most Communist Party leaders in the backdrop of new virus spreads that have piled up an unprecedented number of infections since the Wuhan outbreak more than two years ago in China.

“More effective measures should be taken to achieve maximum effect in prevention and control with minimum cost, and to reduce the impact on socio-economic development as much as possible,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying in the meeting.

The president “stressed science-based and accurate measures and the adherence to the dynamic zero-covid policy to curb the spread of the epidemic soonest,” Xinhua reported.

Xi said the Chinese economic performance and Covid-19 response had fully demonstrated its strength and capacity in epidemic prevention and control.

“Victory comes from perseverance,” Xi said, asking all departments and regions to prepare for complexity and difficulty in Covid-19 response at home and abroad.

The Standing Committee, the highest governing body of the CPC, noted that the recent local Covid-19 cluster transmissions appeared in many places in the country, with broad coverage and frequent occurrences.

The committee called for stringent implementation of the policy of early detection, reporting, quarantine, and treatment.

The meeting called for strengthening virus control efforts at ports to build a strong defense against imported cases.

At the end of March, it will be two years since the closure of the borders in China.

The committee underlined the need to “keep people’s work and life in order” and stressed the need to secure the production and supply of daily necessities.

The meeting urged all localities to stay on high alert, lose no time, and attend to every aspect and detail when implementing epidemic containment measures.

China recently readjusted its “zero covid” policy, according to which the borders remain closed, movement restrictions continue, and massive PCR testing drive wherever a case is detected.

Last week, the health authorities gave the green light for the first time to the sale of home antigen tests to complement the current strategy.

According to official accounts, since the pandemic began, 126,234 people have become infected in the country, and 4,636 have died.

The death figure has remained unchanged for months. EFE

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