The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee convened a meeting on March 17 to analyze the new development of COVID-19 and arrange for better and more stringent epidemic control. General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the meeting and delivered an important speech.

Xi pointed out that China has maintained the policy of "preventing imported cases and domestic resurgences" since routine prevention and control measures were adopted. Xi said that differentiated and targeted prevention and control approach has been improved in accordance with situations in different regions and the levels of sporadic resurgence, and as a result, clusters of infections in certain regions have been swiftly brought under control and people's health and safety have been protected to the utmost. He said that China has done better than most countries in both economic development and COVID-19 containment, which has demonstrated the country's solid strength and capacity in the prevention and control of the epidemic and the advantages of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and of China's socialist system.

Victory comes from perseverance, Xi stressed. All local authorities and government departments must be fully aware of the complex, arduous and enduring nature of COVID-19 control both at home and abroad, further social mobilization, build consensus, proceed with greater confidence and perseverance, and carry out all the epidemic control work in a more solid and meticulous manner. He urged them to always put people and their lives first, adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID approach with science-based and targeted measures, and contain the spread of the virus as soon as possible. Efforts must be taken to make epidemic response more science-based and targeted, keep optimizing our response measures, and step up the research and development of vaccines, rapid testing reagents, and medicines, so that the epidemic control work will be more targeted. Xi also called for maintaining strategic focus, pursuing progress while ensuring stability, coordinating COVID-19 response with economic and social development, adopting more effective measures, striving to achieve the best results in epidemic control with minimum costs, and minimizing the epidemic's impact on the economic and social development.