The Great Hall of the People in Beijing (XINHUA)

The 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), the national legislature, and the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, will open their third sessions on May 22 and May 21 respectively, more than two months after the “Two Sessions” were postponed due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic.

With Chinese lawmakers and political advisers from different areas arriving in the capital for the annual meetings, Beijing officials gave an update on COVID-19 prevention and control at a press conference on May 17.

Beijing has lowered its emergency response to level two from level one, the highest level but will still remain on a war footing to ensure public health during the Two Sessions, Vice Mayor of Beijing Municipality Lu Yan said.

Zhang Ge, deputy chief of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, said due to a few cases of cluster infections in other provinces, prevention and control at the community level remains a focus for the capital. Beijing will continue to keep residential compounds closed-off and keep a close eye on people returning from high-risk areas.

Lei Haichao, head of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, said the number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients in Beijing has dropped to zero. The capital now has 70 medical and health institutions to carry out nucleic acid tests, with a combined daily detection capacity of over 50,000 samples.

Xu Qiang, head of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, said three COVID-19 vaccines are in the second phase of clinical trial in Beijing. Also, five drugs are in the second phase of clinical studies.

According to a three-year action plan (2020-22) on strengthening the emergency management system for public health security in the capital, Beijing will establish a mechanism for prevention, clinical practice, scientific research, treatment and project emergency approval.

Tan Xuxiang, head of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said in the early stage of the epidemic, medical equipment, protective clothing, masks and other items were in short supply. The municipal government will assess all demands, maintain a scale of production and develop the whole industrial chain in this regard. Also, Beijing’s disease prevention and control team is understaffed. The municipal government will recruit more talents to make the team stronger.

In addition, media arrangements for the Two Sessions have been adjusted to safeguard public health.

The media center has received applications from more than 3,000 Chinese and foreign reporters to cover the event, Zhang Yesui, Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NPC, told Xinhua News Agency.

“Some of the Chinese and foreign journalists in Beijing will be invited to cover the Two Sessions, but journalists overseas will not be invited,” he said. While the news conferences, briefings and interviews will be conducted in innovative forms such as by video link online or on telephone, some of the Chinese and foreign journalists in Beijing will be invited to cover the meetings in the Great Hall of the People.

Information about the Two Sessions as well as the main documents will be available on the website of the media center in Chinese and foreign languages.

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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