Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In light of the new developments in the COVID-19 epidemic, China is constantly optimizing its prevention and control measures to strike a balance between epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in response to remarks from the US Department of State about the global concerns over the current Chinese epidemic situation.

The US Department of State spokesperson claimed on December 19 that the world is highly concerned about the impact of the epidemic on China and hopes that China can properly respond to it, and considering the size of the Chinese economy, this is beneficial to China and the world. 

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning told a routine press conference on Tuesday that since the outbreak of the epidemic nearly three years ago, the Chinese government has stuck to the principle of putting people and people's lives first, and formulated epidemic prevention policies to meet the interests of the largest number of people based on its own national conditions. 

It has been proved that China's epidemic prevention and control policies over the past three years have protected people's lives and health to the greatest extent possible, minimized the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development, bought precious time for understanding the epidemic scientifically, researching and developing vaccines and medicine, and raising the vaccination rate of the whole population, realizing the goal of achieving the best results at the least cost, Mao said. 

At present, considering the new developments in the epidemic, China is constantly optimizing its prevention and control measures to strike a balance between epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development.

It is believed that with the concerted efforts, Chinese people will usher in a new stage of steady and orderly economic and social development, Mao said. 

We are willing to continue to work with the international community to cope with the challenges of the epidemic, to better protect people's lives and health and restore healthy growth of the world economy, and promote the building of a healthy community for all. 

In response to the remarks of the US Department of State spokesperson which contained hints of possible new mutated strains in China, Mao said that the related departments have shifted the focus from infection prevention to medical treatment to earnestly implement the 20 measures and another 10 optimized measures. 

We believe that with the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the unity of the Chinese people and the mature medical treatment, China will surely be able to ride out the peak of the epidemic smoothly, Mao noted. 

Global Times