Chronicle of Xi's leadership in China's war against coronavirus

INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHS GIVEN FULL PLAY

Xi stressed that it is imperative to coordinate national response measures to fight the outbreak, adding that concentrating strength to accomplish big tasks is an advantage of China's socialist system.

Support was summoned from across the nation. All jumped into action after Xi, as the leadership core of the CPC Central Committee and the Party, issued his orders.

A central leading group on the epidemic response was set up on Jan 25. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, led a central guiding group to oversee work on the ground in Hubei for three months.

"Whatever situations it encounters or whatever needs it has, the group can directly phone me," said Xi, who made more than 100 instructions to the group.

Under Xi's leadership, more than 90 million CPC members and 4.6 million grassroots Party organizations joined the battle.

"The general secretary says the interests of the people come above all else. We, as Party members, must be at the forefront," said Xia Jian, secretary of a Party branch at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University.

Some lost their lives after they were infected on the front line while attending to patients. Liu Zhiming, president of Wuchang Hospital, and Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at the Central Hospital of Wuhan, were among the fallen heroes honored as martyrs, a title given to citizens who bravely sacrifice their lives for the nation and the people.

Employees who are Party members also took the lead to work around the clock in fields closely connected with epidemic control such as building hospitals and producing masks.

Heeding Xi's order, the military sent its first group of medics to Wuhan on Chinese New Year's Eve. In total, three groups involving over 4,000 service personnel were dispatched. Supplies were airlifted to Wuhan by large transport aircraft.

China mobilized the best doctors, the most advanced equipment and the most needed resources to assist the all-out fight against the virus in Hubei and Wuhan, with all treatment expenses covered by the government, Xi said during the "two sessions."

Robert Kuhn, a leading U.S. scholar on China studies and chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, described China's mobilization as "unprecedented" in global health history.

Across China, over 42,000 medical workers, including academicians and top experts, were sent to Hubei. They endured tremendous fatigue and stress, and paid a heavy price. More than 2,000 medical workers were infected, and scores died in the line of duty.

In Wuhan, 16 exhibition halls and sports venues were converted into makeshift hospitals. Dozens of hospitals were repurposed. More than 600 venues were used for quarantine sites. All these measures helped add about 3,000 beds on a daily basis, easing the strain on hospital beds in the city.

"The key learning from China is speed," said Canadian epidemiologist Bruce Aylward, who led a team of WHO-organized international experts to China for a nine-day joint mission on COVID-19 in February.

Outside the hard-hit zone, the manufacturing of medical supplies was cranked up and "green passages" were opened. In a short time, everything from masks to life support equipment was rushed to the front line.

At the height of the outbreak, Hubei accumulated more than 100 extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines, about a quarter of the nation's total of these sophisticated life support systems.

Xi ordered leveraging the country's institutional strength of "pairing" support. Nineteen provincial regions were "paired" with 16 cities and prefectures in Hubei to help them contain the outbreak.

Xi said science and technology hold the key to "eventually prevailing over the outbreak." He demanded research to be fast-tracked to solve key issues while meeting all safety standards.

Universities, research institutes and businesses across the country joined forces to develop vaccines, medicines and treatment. A vaccine developed by Chinese researchers was the world's first to enter phase-two clinical trials on April 12. By July 23, nine enterprises in China had started clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines. The emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines has also started.

In a country with a huge population of 1.4 billion, people acted orderly; they took the Party and government's advice seriously, staying at home for weeks and practicing social distancing.

Over 4 million community workers were mobilized to regularly disinfect public spaces, check body temperatures, and register visitors and take them to quarantine if necessary.

Grid management and neighborhood watches were initiated in some cities to detect and isolate suspected cases and their close contacts as soon as possible. Many volunteers showed up to help.

"Communities have made huge contributions in this epidemic response," Xi told community workers during a tree-planting activity in Beijing. "Looking forward, there are still formidable tasks ahead."

China's approach, truly mobilizing all of government and all of society, is estimated to have averted hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 cases, according to a report by the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19.

International medical journal The Lancet said there are important lessons that presidents and prime ministers can learn from China's experience, highlighting the role of public health measures, such as surveillance and exhaustive contact tracing, in delaying the spread of infection.

China's COVID-19 fight offers three important pieces of experience to the world: talk to the public, slow the transmission of the disease, and prepare health systems for a spike in demand, according to the London-based magazine The Economist.

PEOPLE FIRST

In essence, what Xi commands is a "people's war." By and large, it is a war waged by the people and for the people, embodying the fundamental purpose of the CPC, the world's largest ruling political party -- to serve the people wholeheartedly.

"People" is the most prominent recurring word in the meetings he chaired and the instructions he issued.

Xi has stressed putting people's lives and health first and placing their interests above anything else. He demanded closely relying on the people to win the war. He also said all prevention and control measures of the CPC Central Committee were taken with the primary consideration of preventing infections among the people and saving lives.

China has made COVID-19 treatment free, pledging to treat every patient and leave no one unattended.

The oldest COVID-19 patient saved in China is 108 years old.

"We saved lives at all costs. We never gave up no matter how old a patient was or how serious their condition was," Xi said.

Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission, said the elderly were among the most difficult to treat and required more medical resources than others.

"But China has given every patient equal treatment, in disregard of their age or wealth," she said, adding that this reflects the traditional Chinese virtues Xi has emphasized that put people first in state governance.

Jiao said China has far fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths than major developed nations in Europe and North America.

Xi developed close ties to the people early in life. At 15, he went to the village of Liangjiahe in Shaanxi province, and spent seven years there, working and living with peasants on the Loess Plateau.

Meeting the press after the 18th CPC National Congress, Xi said, "People's aspirations for a better life are what we should fight for."

Xi has made people's health a major focus. Not long after he was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 2012, he traveled to a village clinic to learn about the new rural cooperative medical system.

He has repeatedly stressed that without good health for all, there would be no moderately prosperous society in all respects.

On Feb 10, when the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Beijing reached 342, Xi put on his mask and visited a residential community, a hospital and a district disease prevention and control center. He held out his wrist to have his body temperature checked upon entering every location.

Xi chatted with residents in a street, asking them about the prices of vegetables.

"Let's not shake hands at this unusual time," Xi said. "We must have confidence that we can prevail over the epidemic."

"We absolutely can beat it," the residents responded.

A month later, Xi visited a residential community in Wuhan. At this time, daily new confirmed cases on the mainland had dropped to 24, but Wuhan still had 14,514 COVID-19 patients. The task of containment remained arduous.

Walking between apartment blocks, Xi looked up and waved to residents under lockdown who stuck out their heads from their windows and balconies to greet him.

"Let's keep it up! Hold on for a little longer!" Xi said.

Speaking at a symposium in Wuhan, he made a special request for officials to supply more fish, a favorite food of Wuhan people.

Andrey Ostrovsky, deputy director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said Xi's Wuhan inspection was a clear testament to the Party's principle of putting people's lives and health first.

Xi cares deeply about medical workers. He demanded maximum efforts to reduce the loss of life and instructed cadres to relieve medical workers' stress, provide for their basic needs and give them enough rest and encouragement.

At Huoshenshan Hospital, Xi spoke to fully gowned doctors by video link. "I can't see your whole faces as you are all wearing protective gowns and masks. But in my heart, you are the most beloved people," he said.

Chen Jing, a lead nurse of the hospital's intensive care unit, said she was touched by Xi's visit and felt stronger than ever with the leadership and people firmly standing by medical workers.

On International Workers' Day, Xi wrote to the staff of a household service company in central China. He lauded a wide range of working people from sanitation workers, deliverymen to workers producing anti-epidemic supplies. Their hard work and contributions, Xi said, had gathered tremendous strength to prevail over the epidemic.

On International Nurses Day, Xi applauded nurses who braved the danger to save lives during the COVID-19 fight. On China's Doctors' Day, Xi again lauded medical workers who fought tenaciously against the virus on the front line.

Xi was concerned about Chinese citizens' safety abroad and asked embassies, consulates, overseas Chinese associations and student unions to ramp up support. The government arranged flights to bring back Chinese students and other people in need from Iran, Italy, Britain and other countries.

Cadres, Xi said, must shoulder their responsibilities for the people. Those who disobey orders, be self-serving, fail to take on responsibilities or have undesirable conduct will be punished. In serious cases, the supervisors of wrongdoers will be held accountable too, Xi said.

On April 4, Xi led the nation of 1.4 billion to observe three minutes of silence for the lives lost to the coronavirus. This year's "two sessions" also opened with the mourning of the fallen, once again demonstrating the people-first spirit.