Xi Jinping says China’s Covid policies will ‘stand the test of time’ in Shanghai

The Chinese leader was speaking at a meeting of the country’s top policymaking body, addressing the outbreak in the key commercial hub for the first time

Officials were warned not to challenge the country’s zero-Covid policies as the country struggles to contain the Omicron variant

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Millions of Shanghai residents have been locked down for more than a month. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:00am, 6 May 2022Updated: 1:10pm, 31 May 2022

President Xi Jinping has spoken out for the first time on China’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai, saying it “will stand the test of time” and pledged to fight any attempt to “distort, question and challenge” the country’s policies.

Chairing the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee meeting, the highest decision-making body in China, Xi gave a speech telling officials and party cadres to stand firm and not waver.

He said China will prevail in the fight against Covid-19 in Shanghai just as it did in Wuhan, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday night.

Shanghai’s 25 million residents have been locked down for more than a month amid a surge in cases, becoming the epicentre of China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since it first began two years ago.

The local authorities in Beijing have closed public transport routes, told people to work from home and ordered mass testing in an effort to stop the capital suffering the same fate.

China is one of the few countries to have maintained a version of the zero-Covid policy as most of the world has begun to live with the virus.