Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Wuhan - epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak - on Tuesday morning, as the number of new infections in mainland China continued its downward trend on Monday, with just 19 cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, reports South China Morning Post.
The official Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said Xi, on his first visit to the stricken provincial capital of Hubei, would inspect the prevention and control work in the city, and visit medical workers, military commanders, community workers, public security officers, grass roots and frontline cadres, as well as volunteers, patients and residents.
Xi’s first stop was the military-operated Huoshenshan Hospital - one of two which were constructed at speed to deal with the outbreak. He checked on the construction and operation of the facility as well as patient admissions, protection for medical staff and scientific research.
Xi encouraged doctors, nursing staff and patients to be confident the epidemic would be overcome, according to official news agency Xinhua.
Last makeshift hospital in Wuhan closes
Wuhan's last remaining makeshift hospital to treat Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms, closed on Tuesday in a sign the epidemic there is now largely under control.
The closure of the Wuchang Fangcang Hospital was reported by Chinese online news portal ThePaper.cn, and coincided with Xi’s visit to the city. At least 14 buildings, including sports stadiums and convention centres, had been converted into makeshift hospitals, adding more than 20,000 beds to treat patients and prevent the spread of the virus.
Wuhan ‘decisive’ battleground against virus
State media on Tuesday began publishing numerous articles and commentaries following the announcement of Xi’s visit to Wuhan, highlighting the level of success so far in fighting the outbreak. One commentary by Xinhua again underscored the city as a “decisive” place in China’s battle against the virus.
The article repeated the phrase - previously emphasised in official party media - that “a victory in Wuhan is a victory for Hubei, a victory in Hubei is a victory for China”. Another commentary released by the state news agency on Tuesday morning said “the battle continues, but victory is near”.
Professor Zhu Lijia, from the Chinese Academy of Governance, said Xi's visit to Wuhan marked the Chinese leadership’s belief that “major progress has been made and a fundamental turning point has been achieved in China’s coronavirus battle.”
Zhu said the challenge for the leadership, once Wuhan was completely out of the woods, was to strike a balance between controlling the epidemic and restarting the economy. “How do we continue to allow the flow of people within China and internationally, but contain the imported cases, that will be difficult going forward.”
All but two of China’s latest cases are in Wuhan
China’s National Health Commission said 17 of the new patients with Covid-19 - the disease caused by the coronavirus - were from Wuhan, where the epidemic originated in December. The remaining two cases, in Beijing and eastern Guangdong province, had been imported from overseas, with the Beijing case originating in Britain, the commission said.
The Guangdong case related to a Chinese student who took Cathay Pacific flight CX320 from Spain to Hong Kong on March 8, and then transited to Guangdong through the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint.
There were a further 17 deaths in China, all from Hubei province, bringing the national death toll from the disease to 3,136. China has now recorded a total of 80,754 confirmed cases of Covid-10. It is the third consecutive day that China has reported new domestic cases only in Wuhan.
Hubei prepares to go back to work
Officials in Hubei should prepare for business to return to normal, the local party chief Ying Yong told a provincial coronavirus containment strategy meeting on Monday.
“[We should] fully support companies that have global export chains, flagship engineering projects and agricultural-related corporations to return to work, and [we should] assist other companies to gradually resume business at safe and suitable times,” said Ying, who was appointed last month, according to provincial newspaper Hubei Daily on Tuesday.