Coronavirus: Xi Jinping sends message on China’s economy and getting back to business

Chinese president claims there have been ‘positive results’ in controlling the outbreak during meeting of Communist Party’s inner circle

He urges local governments to ensure economic stability and social harmony, while all counties are to be rated according to virus risk level

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Xi Jinping visits a community in Beijing on Monday. The Chinese president said efforts to control the virus outbreak had reached a critical stage. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:53pm, 12 Feb 2020Updated: 11:39pm, 13 Feb 2020

President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sought to send a message that progress had been made in bringing the coronavirus outbreak under control and, for most parts of the country, the focus should be on getting back to business.

According to state television, Xi chaired a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s supreme political body, on the latest developments on the crisis and future policy responses, concluding that there had been “positive changes” with “positive results”.

At the same time, Xi said, efforts to control the outbreak had entered a critical stage and there was no room for relaxation in key measures or key areas. He called for areas where there were a large number of suspected cases of the new virus – especially the outbreak epicentre Wuhan – to create more hospital beds and quarantine facilities.

Xi also reiterated that all levels of local government and Communist Party committees must strive to achieve China’s social and development goals this year, indicating that he did not want the public health crisis to hinder progress.

We must correct these overreactions and extreme measures and avoid an oversimplified approach

Xi Jinping

“The year 2020 is the last year for China to deliver the goal of becoming a comprehensively well-off society,” the statement carrying Xi’s comments said. Xi added that local authorities must ensure economic stability and social harmony by minimising the impact of the outbreak on people’s lives and on production.

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