China declares decisive victory over COVID-19

China has declared a “decisive victory” over COVID-19, stating that its efforts led to more than 200 million people getting medical treatment, including nearly 800,000 severe cases.

The declaration was made by China’s most powerful leadership body, the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), in a meeting on Thursday.

“With continuous efforts to optimise COVID-19 prevention and control measures since November 2022, China’s COVID-19 response has made a smooth transition in a relatively short time,” the PSC said.

“A major decisive victory in epidemic prevention and control has been achieved,” it added.

The meeting stressed that China will increase the vaccination rate for the elderly, and strengthen the supply and production of medical goods.

The PSC urged all localities and departments to strengthen the medical service system, according to the report from the official Xinhua news agency.

The statement did not say how many had died from COVID, and comes weeks before China holds its annual parliamentary session and as policymakers look to revive an economy battered by three years of COVID restrictions.

Also Read: Post Covid: China reopens borders

However, leaders cautioned that while the situation is improving, the virus is still spreading globally and continues to mutate, according to state media.

In December, China suddenly dismantled President Xi Jinping’s signature zero-COVID policy following historic protests, unleashing the coronavirus across a population that had been largely shielded from the disease since it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

Though there were widespread reports of packed hospital wards and mortuaries, China recorded only about 80,000 COVID deaths in hospitals in the two months after dropping its curbs.

Some experts say the actual toll was far higher, as many patients die at home and doctors were widely reported to have been discouraged from reporting COVID as a cause of death.

Many countries and the World Health Organization have speculated China was underreporting deaths for months, with some experts predicting earlier that COVID could lead to at least one million deaths in the country this year.

Zainab Sa’id