Xi's Speech on Epidemic Control in Hubei to Be Published

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) — A speech by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on COVID-19 prevention and control work in Hubei Province will be published Wednesday in the seventh issue of the Qiushi Journal.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered the speech during his inspection tour in the central Chinese province on March 10.

Noting that Hubei and its provincial capital of Wuhan are the top priority of the fight against the novel coronavirus, Xi said in the speech that firm, solid and meticulous prevention and control efforts should be maintained to secure a victory in defending Hubei and Wuhan.

The CPC Central Committee has taken the outbreak of the novel coronavirus with great seriousness since the very start and put people's lives and health on the top of the priority list, according to the text of the speech to be carried by the flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee.

Medical treatment should be put on the top of the agenda to improve the recovery rate and reduce mortality to the greatest extent, and the development of new-type testing kits, antibody medicines, vaccines, and diagnosis and treatment plans should be accelerated.

It is necessary to rely on the people to win a "people's war" against the epidemic and strengthen prevention and control work in regions with weak medical resources in Hubei, the article stressed.

The article also stressed measures to guarantee people's basic life, including ensuring the supply of staple food items such as grain, flour, oil, meat, eggs and dairy products.

An economic and social order compatible with epidemic prevention and control should be established, according to the article.

Noting that the epidemic will not affect the fundamentals of Hubei's steady and long-term sound economic development, the article stressed the importance of adopting differentiated polices for the resumption of work and production in the province, given that the epidemic prevention and control is tightened.

Efforts to fix the shortcomings and weak links in the system and capacity for governance were also stressed, including improving the public health emergency management system to boost capacity for and capabilities of responding to major public health emergencies, and improving mechanisms for governance at the primary level in cities and rural areas.

(Source: Xinhua)