China's commitment to putting people, their lives first unchanged: FM spokesperson

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Thursday rebutted allegations regarding China's COVID policy adjustment, saying China's commitment to putting the people and their lives first has remained unchanged, and such ill-intentioned rhetoric is aimed at discrediting China.

"Since COVID began, China has always put the people and their lives above all else. We have made the best effort to protect people's life and health and poured all resources into treating every patient," spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily press briefing.

Over the past three years, China has effectively responded to five global COVID waves and avoided widespread infections with the original strain and the Delta variant, which are relatively more pathogenic than the other variants, Wang said.

He added that China has greatly reduced the number of severe cases and deaths, and bought precious time for the research, development and application of vaccines and therapeutics, and for getting medical supplies and other resources ready.

Despite the pandemic, average life expectancy in China went up from 77.3 to 78.2 years, the spokesperson said.

During this fight against COVID-19, China has effectively coordinated COVID response with economic and social development, and refined the response policy in light of the evolving situation, Wang noted.

With Omicron much less pathogenic and deadly and China's treatment, testing and vaccination capacity steadily on the rise, China has downgraded its management of the infectious disease of COVID-19 from Class A to Class B, shifting the focus of the response from stemming infection to caring for health and preventing severe cases, Wang said. "This shift is science-based, timely and necessary."

As response measures are being refined, relevant Chinese departments have worked actively to beef up medical resources, set up a multi-tiered and category-based diagnosis and treatment mechanism, and increased the production capacity and supply of medicines, Wang said.

China has mobilized as many resources as possible to protect the elderly with underlying health conditions, pregnant and lying-in women, children and other key groups, and made every effort to reduce severe cases and deaths, he added.

"Over the past three years, while we adapt the COVID response to the evolving circumstances, one thing has remained unchanged, which is our commitment to putting the people and their lives first," Wang said, adding that with this commitment and with the concerted efforts of the Chinese people, victory over COVID will surely arrive at an early date.