China claims to have “decisively defeated” the pandemic

BEIJING (AP) — More than 200 million Chinese citizens have been diagnosed and treated for COVID-19 since strict lockdown measures were lifted from November, Chinese authorities said.

With 800,000 of the most serious patients recovered, China has ‘decisively defeated’ the pandemic, according to notes from a meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee led by the president and party leader , Xi Jinping.

China has imposed some of the most draconian shutdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions in the world and still faces questions about the origins of the virus which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. The harsh enforcement has sparked unusual anti-government protests and weighed heavily on the world’s second-largest economy.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying the epidemic control policies had been “totally correct”. The abrupt lifting in November and December of the “zero covid” policy which had sought to eliminate all cases of the virus caused a spike in infections which momentarily saturated hospitals.

The number of cases has since peaked and life has largely returned to normal, although international travel to and from China has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

China is now transitioning to a post-pandemic phase after a fight against the epidemic that has been “extraordinary in the extreme”, Xinhua said.

The government will continue to “optimize and adjust prevention and control policies and measures according to times and situations with enormous historical responsibility and strong strategic determination,” Xinhua added.