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By Yew Lun Tian
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will make its COVID-19 prevention measures more scientific, accurate and effective, a spokesman for the ruling Communist Party said on Saturday, reiterating Beijing’s position that its pandemic technique is the right one.
Beijing this week reaffirmed its commitment to a COVID policy that has prevented mass infections and deaths, but has also caused deep economic damage and widespread frustration among Chinese citizens.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the party’s five-year congress, which will be held on Sunday and Saturday in Beijing, party spokesman Sun Yeli said that while he hoped the pandemic would end soon, the truth is that it is not.
China’s “zero dynamics” policy has kept infections and deaths low and ensured social and economic stability, he told reporters.
“If you count the ledger, our epidemic prevention measures are the most economical and effective,” Sun said.
“Our prevention and control methods and measures will be more scientific, more accurate and more effective,” he said. “We firmly believe that the dawn awaits us and perseverance is victory. “
Since 2020, China has reported 5226 deaths from COVID-19 among its population of 1400 million. By contrast, more than a million people have died from the disease in the United States.
From April to June, the world’s second-largest economy grew slightly as the government struggled with the highly transmissible variant of Omicron. China’s cities, in addition to its monetary capital Shanghai, have been subject to varying degrees of economically damaging and socially suffocating closures.
President Xi Jinping is expected to win a third five-year term as the party’s congressional secretary-general, the toughest leader since Mao Zedong.
The congress comes at a tumultuous time, as China’s economy is dragged down by Xi’s COVID policy and a deep crisis in the real estate sector, and his relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin further alienates China from the West.
(Reporting via Yew Lun Tian; Written through Martin Quin Pollard and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry and William Mallard)