Coronavirus crisis: Xi tours Beijing, vows to win war against the epidemic

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday appeared before the public for the first time since the coronavirus epidemic started and said the government would prevent large-scale layoffs amid the outbreak.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday appeared before the public for the first time since the coronavirus epidemic started and said the government would prevent large-scale layoffs amid the outbreak. Jinping inspected efforts by community workers in Beijing to contain the virus, visited a local hospital that offers treatment to coronavirus patients and video-chatted with frontline medical staff in Wuhan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Wearing a surgical mask, Jinping had his temperature checked by a community worker and waved to residents in their apartments. "We must have confidence that we will eventually win this battle against the epidemic," the President told medical staff during the visit to Ditan hospital.

The inspection came at a time when many people outside the epidemic centre of Hubei Province resumed work after an extended holiday. On January 25, Jinping had chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and demanded that epidemic prevention and control be taken as the most important task.

At least 910 people have lost their lives so far in mainland China from the coronavirus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan at the end of last year. China's National Health Commission reported there were 97 new deaths from the virus on February 9, making Sunday the deadliest day so far. The fatality toll has passed the 774 people believed to have died in the 2002-03 epidemic of a severe acute respiratory syndrome, another viral outbreak that originated in China. The total of 40,171 cases on the mainland vastly exceeds the 8,098 sickened by SARS.

At least 25 countries have confirmed cases and several nations have evacuated their citizens from Hubei. Major airlines have suspended flights to and from China in an attempt to stop the spread. Two deaths have been recorded outside mainland China - one in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines, Al Jazeera reported.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has deployed an expert team to the East Asian country to investigate the ground facts regarding the deadly virus outbreak. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)