“This is a crisis and it is also a major test,” Xi said adding that the situation remained acute but positive changes had happened.

“The effectiveness of the prevention and control work has once again showed the significant advantages of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics,” said Xi, who is also the general secretary of the Communist Party.

It was the second time Xi had spoken to cadres in a mass teleconference – he used the same platform to address the rank-and-file in January as part of a campaign to stress political loyalty and party values.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of state-run tabloid Global Times and one of the participants on Sunday, said the meeting was a rare chance for grass-roots officials to hear directly from the top party boss.

“It was a very good meeting that allowed grass-roots party members and cadres to have the opportunity to directly listen to the general secretary’s important speech on how to prevent and control the epidemic instead of having to rely on messages passed down through the hierarchy,” Hu said in a post online.

“We could hear every word that [Xi] said, including remarks he made that were not in the official speech and see his expression … I really hope that such conferences can be held more regularly … because it can help to reduce the omissions and variations of some key information in the communication process.”

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said Xi’s speech on Sunday gave “great details” for the grass-roots cadres on how they should act, indicating the president was taking a “hand-holding” approach to ensure that edicts from Beijing were being followed on the ground.

“Xi is on top of everything. But such hand-holding may not be good for the grass-roots. The more direct instructions from the top leadership, the less room there is for frontline cadres to manoeuvre,” Wu said.

An official from the Communist Party School, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said party leaders often used teleconferences to disseminate their orders and instructions, but they had become more frequent and on a bigger scale under Xi.

“Before Xi, such teleconferences used to involve several thousands of people only,” the cadre said.

He also said that the top leadership was concerned about whether Xi’s instructions were being followed faithfully throughout the party bureaucracy.

He said lower-level cadres were used to taking things into their own hands in terms of implementing Beijing’s orders.

“Even a cadre who is in charge of a residential committee can have great power,” the party school official said. “You can’t even go for a walk on the street [under the current control measures] if the cadre doesn’t approve.

“The instructions by Beijing may not reach these cadres and some won’t listen,” he said. “That’s why Xi needs to speak to the cadres directly to make sure his orders are being followed.”