China’s Remarkable Achievements in the Fight Against Covid-19

For over three years, during the most severe public health emergency the world has ever faced in a century, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Xi Jinping at its core has consistently placed the people and their lives above all else as it united all members of the Party and all the Chinese people and led them in the fight against Covid-19. Based on a strong sense of responsibility and strategic determination, the Central Committee has optimized policies and measures aimed at containing the virus and efficiently coordinated response efforts with economic and social development, effectively protecting people’s health and safety. We have achieved a critical and decisive victory by forging a powerful ethos of battling against the virus. For a populous country to emerge from a pandemic largely unscathed is a miraculous achievement in the history of human civilization, and China deserves immense credit for its efforts in the fight against Covid-19.

I. The vital role of the CPC’s leadership

China’s success hinges on the CPC. For over three years, the CPC Central Committee led by Xi Jinping has united all members of the Party and all Chinese people in the arduous fight against coronavirus. It successively defended Wuhan, Shanghai, and many other locations against repeated waves of the virus, proving the importance of the CPC’s leadership in securing the victory in the fight against the disease.

The CPC has demonstrated political leadership by exercising overall authority and coordinating the efforts of all sides

The CPC’s leadership is vital for the continued development of the cause of the Party and the country, and affirming President Xi’s core position on the Central Committee and in the Party as a whole as well as affirming the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era are the most powerful guarantees for overcoming all difficulties and obstacles as well as dealing with any uncertainties. For over three years, President Xi has personally taken command and directed operations, the CPC Central Committee has taken the initiative in the fight against the epidemic, our more than 4.9 million primary-level CPC organizations have served as impenetrable fortresses, and more than 96 million CPC members have been vanguard fighters. The whole country has worked together and fought side by side. Cities and villages, as well as organizations and communities, have worked together to implement joint prevention and control measures, forming a formidable force for combating Covid-19. Under the leadership of President Xi and the CPC Central Committee, the country quickly established a strategic approach consisting of unified command, comprehensive implementation, and multidimensional systems to contain the virus, which effectively curbed its widespread transmission and altered its perilous progress.

Medical workers from Wuhan No. 1 Hospital see off the 14th medical assistance team sent from Guangdong, Tianhe International Airport, March 23, 2020. While in Wuhan, the medical team took over management of four ICU wards in Wuhan No. 1 Hospital and developed deep friendships with local medical staff. PHOTO BY XINHUA REPORTER CHEN YEHUA

The CPC has demonstrated its ability to make decisions, been realistic and pragmatic, and remained flexible in response to changes

For over three years, China’s Covid-19 containment efforts have evolved dramatically, from emergency controls to routine protective measures, to a smooth transition in our response. The CPC Central Committee carefully and comprehensively assessed situations and formulated 10 iterations of containment protocols, issued 20 measures to optimize China’s response, which were followed by 10 more, and downgraded Covid-19 from a Class-B infectious disease subject to preventive and control measures for a Class-A infectious disease to a Class-B infectious disease subject to Class-B control measures. It consummately handled more than a hundred localized outbreaks, thereby preventing highly virulent and fatal variants from spreading widely and securing a smooth transition in control measures in a short period. These actions served to protect people’s lives and health to the greatest possible extent while minimizing the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development.

Tourists watch a high-pole lion dance show on Tianhu Lake in Mount Xiqiao, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, during the Spring Festival, January 24, 2023. Over the past three years, thanks to a concerted fight against Covid-19, Chinese people’s lives and health have been protected to the greatest extent possible and the impact on economic and social development has been minimized. As response measures have been adjusted and refined, vitality has steadily returned to Guangdong’s culture and tourism market (drone photo). PHOTO BY XINHUA REPORTER LIU DAWEI

The CPC has demonstrated its ability to achieve overall coordination by devising shrewd strategies and maintaining systemic balance

For over three years, the CPC Central Committee has adeptly coordinated China’s Covid-19 containment measures with economic and social development, secured victory in the fight against poverty on schedule, built a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and got the 14th Five-Year Plan off to a positive start. Between 2020 and 2022, China has achieved average annual economic growth of 4.5%, significantly higher than the global average of around 2%, which helped to inject strong impetus into the global economic recovery. In 2022, utilized foreign investment reached a record high of over 1.2 trillion yuan, highlighting the resilience and vitality of China’s economy.

As a provincial economic powerhouse, Guangdong has faithfully implemented the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and ensured coordination of prevention and control measures with economic and social development throughout the pandemic. It timely issued policies to help businesses, including 25 measures to support the real economy and 25 measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed individuals. The tax rebates, tax and fee reductions, and postponements of tax payments thanks to these policies amounted to 465.6 billion yuan in 2022 alone, which were a part of the province’s comprehensive efforts to enable enterprises to overcome difficulties and develop. Guangdong also issued policies and measures aimed at stabilizing and promoting economic development, such as 32 of those for industrial development, nine measures for boosting consumption, followed by a further 16 measures, 47 measures for promoting the recovery and development of service industries, and 11 measures and a further four measures for stabilizing foreign trade, which illustrate the province’s determination to do everything possible to instill confidence in market entities and keep industrial chains and supply chains stable and smooth. In 2022, Guangdong’s GDP reached 12.91 trillion yuan, total foreign trade was 8.31 trillion yuan, and its total number of market entities exceeded 16 million, consolidating its status as a leading province in China in terms of economic development, foreign trade, and innovation as well as a globally significant manufacturing base, and highlighting its achievements in coordinating Covid-19 containment measures with economic and social development.

II. Placing people and their lives above all else

The CPC’s fundamental purpose is to wholeheartedly serve the people, who are masters of this socialist country. Placing the people and their lives above all else represents the finest interpretation of the CPC’s tenet of exercising power in the interests of the people and the most vivid and true reflection of China’s fight against Covid-19.

Placing the people and their lives above all else and responding to extraordinary emergency with extraordinary measures

The principle of placing the people and their lives above all else has been a consistent, essential guideline of China’s efforts to contain Covid-19. Confronted with the sudden emergence of a severe epidemic, the CPC Central Committee took the whole situation into consideration, made resolute decisions, and prioritized the health and safety of the people. It committed to protecting the health and safety of the people at any cost and mobilized the strength of the whole country to save people’s lives on an unprecedented scale. The state assumed the burden of paying for people’s treatment and arranged a free vaccination program to raise the recovery rate and reduce the mortality rate. Since November 2022, China has achieved a smooth transition in its containment efforts in a short period, with more than 200 million diagnosed patients and nearly 800,000 severe cases receiving effective treatment, and the Covid-19 vaccination rate among people over 60s has reached 96.1%. Since the outbreak of the virus in 2020, China has had one of the lowest mortality rates in the world thanks to its containment measures, which prevented millions of deaths based on the mortality rates of advanced Western countries. 

Placing the people above all else, and relying closely on the unity among the people in times of adversity

For over three years, the people have actively responded to the overall plans of the Party and government, strived to deal with the disruption to work and life caused by containment measures, and conscientiously observed regulations, thereby creating the necessary social foundation for the implementation of public prevention and control measures. In the fight against Covid-19, medical workers charged bravely into battle like warriors clad in medical suits, risking their own lives to save others. During the most challenging period of the epidemic, 346 medical teams with more than 42,000 personnel from across the country rushed to the aid of Hubei Province, and 13.98 million medical staff worked on the front line during the stage of “ensuring people’s health and preventing severe cases.” A vast cohort of community workers and volunteers were fearless in the face of adversity and bravely committed to their tasks. During Spring Festival in 2023, more than 3.8 million officials assigned from higher levels participated in community-level disease prevention and control work in rural areas. The fight against Covid-19 has amply demonstrated the great strength of the Chinese people when they are united and share in each other’s happiness and suffering.

Placing the people above all else, implementing controls to benefit the people, and using targeted measures to meet extraordinary demands

Confronted with repeated resurgences and frequent mutations of coronavirus, China adhered to a scientific and targeted approach to prevention and control, strengthened research and development of vaccines, rapid testing kits, and medicines, and utilized big data and AI to trace the sources of outbreaks and break the chain of virus transmission. People worked relentlessly to ensure stability on six fronts and guarantee in six areas*, safeguard industrial and supply chains, stabilize prices and maintain supplies of grain and non-staple foods, thereby meeting people’s expectations and earning their approval.

As a populous province with a high degree of openness to the outside world, Guangdong was greatly impacted by Covid-19 and faced severe challenges in its containment efforts. Nevertheless, it fully and faithfully implemented the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee, adopted a coordinated approach across the province, and united people from all locations and all sectors of society. Guangdong executed emergency response measures based on a structural hierarchy, and implemented active prevention, early detection, rapid response, control of onward transmission, and optimal services. It maintained three interwoven lines of defense, consisting of prevention of inbound cases, coordinated regional efforts, and joint Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao controls, allowing it to deal with multiple local outbreaks rapidly and decisively. It poured care, passion, and energy into serving and supporting the public, focused on raising people’s morale by providing compassionate care, health and medical service, and social security, and strove to meet the medical and support needs of people, particularly the elderly, pregnant women, children, and those with underlying medical conditions, in lockdown zones.

III. China’s institutional and cultural advantages

The great battle waged against Covid-19 in China for over three years has thoroughly demonstrated the notable institutional strengths of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the richness of Chinese culture. It has greatly advanced the cohesion of the whole Party and all the Chinese people and will surely inspire our people to forge ahead courageously against the odds on the new journey in the new era.

Unified government directives and action are part of the institutional advantage of pooling resources behind major undertakings

At the start of the epidemic, we were in a life-or-death race to provide assistance to those in need, so the most capable personnel were dispatched to Wuhan and other parts of Hubei. Medical facilities were built astonishingly fast, with 16 temporary hospitals set up in Wuhan in just over 10 days. Thousands of businesses rapidly converted their production capabilities, resulting in national face mask production increasing 13.5-fold in just 35 days. In the following stage of epidemic containment, the fever clinic and intensive care bed capacities in secondary-level medical institutions and above across the country were rapidly expanded, and 16 national medical teams with more than 2,400 medical personnel were placed on standby to be dispatched across the country. While taking care of its own containment work within the province, Guangdong deferred to and served the national cause and coordinated and mobilized medical personnel as well as supplies required to contain the virus. It did everything possible to help Hubei, wholeheartedly supported Hong Kong and Macao, and strived to help Shanghai, Hainan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and other provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions to fight the epidemic and overcome adversity together. Experiences have proven that China’s socialist system enables extraordinary levels of organization and mobilization, overall planning and coordination, and implementation, and that it can leverage the unique advantage of concentrating the resources needed to achieve major, challenging, and urgent undertakings.

Pooling wisdom and strength and fostering kinship and mutual assistance reflect the indomitable power of cultural confidence

Without an ethos, a person cannot stand firm, nor can a country be strong. The ability to overcome difficulties demands not only material strength but mental toughness. The fight against Covid-19 has amply demonstrated the special character and fortitude of traditional Chinese culture. The Chinese people have shown great responsibility, self-discipline, dedication, and amity. Everyone has focused their ingenuity and energy on common goals, merged their personal wellbeing with our collective reputation and national safety, and created a powerful line of defense based on unity and solidarity, thereby forging a strong ethos for fighting Covid-19. Evidence has shown that our culture of striving for betterment and virtue is an important bond that connects us and helps our people to share in each other’s happiness and misfortune, as well as an important motivation that unites people and enables us to overcome difficulties together.

IV. Promoting a global community of health for all

For over three years, China has upheld the idea that “the people of the world are members of the same family” and sought to protect the safety and health of not only the Chinese people but the people around the world, promoting the building of a global community of health for all, as befits a major country.

China has always been open, transparent, and responsible as well as proactively fulfilled its international obligations

We notified the WHO and relevant countries and regional organizations of the discovery of Covid-19 as soon as possible and shared the virus’ genome sequence as well as our diagnosis, treatment, and containment plans. We shared information on changes in each strain of the virus with the international community, which was an important reference for the international community to contain the virus and develop vaccines and testing kits. China champions efforts to build a global community of health for all as well as improvements to the governance system of public health security. We have issued a series of proposals on international aid and vaccine use in an effort to bring Chinese wisdom, experience, and medicine to bear in the global fight against Covid-19.

The mega container vessel MSC Irina, escorted by harbor tugs, docks at the Nansha Phase II Container Terminal in the Port of Guangzhou, April 10, 2023. Over the past three years, China has made tremendous achievements in both epidemic response and economic and social development, with the annual economic growth rate remaining at 4.5% and the total volume of imports and exports exceeding 40 trillion yuan. PHOTO BY WEI JINSONG

For over three years, China has overcome the difficulties it faced at home while supporting the global fight against coronavirus

We have provided 153 countries and 15 international organizations with hundreds of billions of items required to contain the virus and led calls to make Covid-19 vaccines a global public good. China was the first country to cooperate with developing countries on vaccine production and has supplied more than 2.2 billion doses to more than 120 countries and international organizations, playing an active role in supplying other countries with materials required to fight the virus. China dispatched 37 teams of medical experts to 34 countries, saving tens of thousands of lives through practical action. Based on the overall plans of the CPC Central Committee, Guangdong also sent highly qualified medical personnel to assist other countries, including Iraq, Serbia, Malaysia, and Peru, helping with improvement of medical and health care, and training of medical and health personnel, thereby contributing to the global fight against Covid-19.

V. Consolidating achievements in containing Covid-19

Humans have struggled to control viruses throughout history. China’s efforts to contain Covid-19 have been effective on the whole, but globally the virus has been rampant, leading to mutations and running the risk of a resurgence.

Take precautions, prepare against the unexpected, and respond to small-probability events with high-probability thinking

Giving priority to prevention, we need to promote integration between disease control agencies and hospitals, put risk prevention in a position of prominence, and deal with issues as soon as they arise to prevent them from becoming full-blown disasters. We need to accelerate the development of a strong public health system and modernize the disease prevention and control system. We will establish a multi-point trigger mechanism for intelligent early warnings and dynamically assess and optimize containment measures. We need to strengthen the systems for prevention, control, and treatment of major epidemics as well as our emergency response capacity. In both calm and calamitous times, we need to establish sound multi-tiered treatment mechanisms for major epidemics and constantly upgrade our capacity to respond to major public health emergencies.

Pay attention to key areas and guard against complacency 

China has a large population, with many vulnerable people, as well as unbalanced regional development and insufficient medical resources. We will ensure that in every locality, the Party committee and government, competent authorities of different sectors, employers of all organizations, and individual citizens all fulfill their respective responsibilities. We need to pay close attention to key links, address inadequacies, plug loopholes, and shore up weaknesses. We need to put greater focus on rural and less economically developed areas as well as on protection and treatment work among the elderly, children, and other key groups. We also need to carry out extensive patriotic health campaigns, support the construction of public health facilities, and improve the civility and health of the whole of society, in order to establish an impenetrable defense against this and future epidemics.

* The six fronts refer to employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment, and expectations. The six areas refer to job security, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy security, stable industrial and supply chains, and the normal functioning of primary-level governments.

This article was written by Wang Dong and Ren Yinghong.

(Originally appeared in Qiushi Journal, Chinese edition, No. 9, 2023)