China’s top leaders hail “miracle” of zero-Covid reversal: report

There have been signs in recent weeks that the wave is finally subsiding. (Representative)

Beijing:

China’s top leaders today hailed the “miracle” of the country’s zero-Covid reversal, according to state media, calling the dramatic turn-around from the radical virus a “great decisive victory” and “absolutely correct”.

A stream of infections engulfed the world’s most populous country after the government carried out some of the world’s strictest virus containment measures late last year.

The surge filled hospitals and crematoria in major cities including Beijing, but the true scale of the outbreak is hard to determine because official figures are believed to represent a tiny fraction of the actual number of cases.

There have been signs in recent weeks that the wave is finally subsiding, with the country’s disease control bureau saying on Wednesday that the number of people receiving Covid care in hospitals has dropped by more than 98 percent since the beginning of January.

A meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee – the apex of power of the Communist Party – confirmed on Thursday that China had “created a miracle in the history of human civilization in that a country with a large population has successfully emerged from a widespread epidemic”. .

In a relatively short period of time, we have achieved a smooth transition in epidemic prevention and control, according to the official Xinhua news agency, at the meeting held in the presence of President Xi Jinping.

More than 200 million people had been treated, including 800,000 critically ill patients, but the situation was now “generally trending for the better”, the report quoted participants as saying.

They agreed that the change in party policy was “absolutely correct”, adding: “The measures have been strong, the public has approved of them, and the results have been huge.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)