President to commend top champions in COVID fight

President Xi Jinping will attend a meeting on Tuesday morning to commend role models in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and present a national medal and honorary titles to four people for their outstanding contribution during the outbreak.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will deliver a speech at the meeting, which will be held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at 10 am on Tuesday.

Xi signed a presidential order on Aug 11 to confer the Medal of the Republic, the highest national honor, on prominent infectious disease expert Zhong Nanshan. The medal was first awarded last year during the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

Zhong, who is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is widely praised and respected for delivering timely information on the latest epidemic situation and leading the formulation of diagnosis and treatment guidelines.

The order also awards national honorary titles to three other experts for their contribution in fighting COVID-19. They are top traditional Chinese medicine expert Zhang Boli, Zhang Dingyu, the head of an infectious disease hospital in Wuhan, and military medical expert Chen Wei.

Since the outbreak hit Wuhan, Hubei province, in late December, China has launched a resolute battle to curb its spread and is now taking regular disease control measures to prevent a resurgence as the disease continues to rage worldwide.

As of Saturday, the Chinese mainland had reported no new local infections for 21 consecutive days and 186 confirmed cases were under treatment, according to the National Health Commission. Ten confirmed cases arriving from outside the mainland were reported on Saturday, the commission said in its daily report.