While the threat of a pandemic has become real as the world meltdown caused by the coronavirus
is accelerating, with spikes in confirmed cases and a surging death toll, China, the first country
entangled in the unprecedented public health crisis, is gradually ascending from the darkest
moment two months later following all-out efforts and strong collective will.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province on Tuesday, March
10, sent out a strong message of the unswerving determination of the Chinese people in scoring a
victory in this battle, glorified the huge sacrifices made by local residents and frontline staff whom
he hailed as heroes.
Xi arrived in Wuhan to inspect epidemic prevention and control work in the province and its
capital city Wuhan. The Chinese president, also general secretary of the Communist Party of
China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, went straight
to Huoshenshan Hospital after arriving in Wuhan, and learned about the hospital’s operations,
treatment of patients, protection for medical workers and scientific research.
Huoshenshan Hospital is the first designated COVID-19 hospital that was completed on February
2 and started admitting patients from February 3. The construction concluded in just 10 days.
He also encouraged a patient being treated at the hospital in a video call. Later, Xi visited residents
of a community in Wuhan undergoing self-quarantine, looking into community-level epidemic
prevention and control work as well as daily necessity supply work and expressed appreciation to
frontline workers and local residents.
Xi’s Wuhan visit shows the turning point of China’s domestic fight against the epidemic has
arrived, and now the focus of the fighting is shifting to preventing imported cases of infections
and gradually resuming economic activities and production, analysts said.
Following a lockdown of Wuhan — the ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak – and Hubei
Province involving about 58 million people, the containment measures, which came along with
heavy costs, have now yielded tangible positive outcomes, as new infection numbers significantly
dropped and 28 of the country’s provincial-level regions had registered zero new infections as of
Monday, March 9.
After about two months of epidemic control and prevention work, China is gradually coming out
of the darkest phase, and it’s time for the nation to accelerate resumption of normal work as well
as social order. And Xi’s visit also reflected China's determination to “score a victory” in the fight
against the COVID-19 epidemic.
It has been two months since Wuhan reported the first death from the COVID-19 on January 9,
and the epicenter and the province, more populous than metropolis such as New York and London,
have been completely shut down, while many residents described their experiences of getting
through the city lockdown like “hitting the pause on life.”
In the past months, the country has been mobilizing and dispatching thousands of medical staff to
support Wuhan and Hubei, and a massive top-down campaign was launched to allocate resources,
and officials and Party members have become the backbone in this battle, which was also called
the “people’s war.”
As of March 1, more than 35,000 medical staff from 29 regions and the PLA came to support
Wuhan. 44,500 Party officials work round-the-clock in about 3,000 communities to make sure all
suspected and confirmed patients are treated.
Medical staffs are the biggest contributors amid the outbreak, and the Party and the people will
give them the biggest credit, Xi noted on Tuesday.
Xi’s visit at this stage showed that China has achieved a phased victory that can help stabilize and
control the epidemic situation, said Lu Keli, an associate professor of the school of Marxism
studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing.
Since the outbreak, Xi has personally commanded this war. He has been paying constant attention
to epidemic prevention and control work and has given verbal or written instructions every day.
From January 7 to March 2, he convened six meetings of the Standing Committee of the Political
Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and one meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central
Committee, urging authorities at every level to put forth resolute efforts to curb the spread of the
virus.
Lessons from Wuhan
During the visit, Xi also expressed his appreciation to Wuhan people, for those who have made
huge sacrifices and contributions to the epidemic prevention and control work, guaranteeing the
visible progress. Xi also hailed them as heroes, and said the battle would be remembered
throughout history.
In this war, people in Wuhan and Hubei had paid a heavy price, exposing loopholes in local
governance and re-examining the country’s top-down emergency response mechanism,
particularly shedding light on problems embedded not only with the governance mechanism but
also the mentality of some officials who seriously delayed their response to this public health
crisis.
Amid a national outcry for accountability, as the COVID-19 occurred with repeating patterns like
SARS, which was not caused by certain people but triggered by a poor decision-making
mechanism at the local government level, the outbreak has also lead to deep reflection, such as
bureaucracy and formalities for the sake of formalities, analysts said.
The central government has urged over the past month to fix the loopholes and shortcomings in
local governance as well as with the public health emergency management mechanism.
Meanwhile, it has become more urgent not to relax on epidemic control work while ensuring the
resumption of daily work, as China also plays the role of a stabilizer of the global economy,
especially when the world faces more uncertainties amid the outbreaks.
In spite of mishandling the public crisis at the early stages, authorities quickly addressed
governance shortcomings, focusing on fighting this war with a sense of responsibility and
collective action, reflecting the country's commitment to the world.
As the epidemic situation becomes worse outside China, the country has been shifting from a
support receiver to an active contributor of epidemic control measures, clinical expertise and
medical supplies.
Since the outbreak, the central government dispatched an inspection group to guide epidemic
control work in Hubei, and a number of local officials have been questioned and punished for
failing to fulfill their duties in the prevention and control work, reshuffling top officials in local
authorities.
