The start of a mea culpa for a crisis that has become global. Xi Jinping recognized this Sunday "gaps" in his country's response to the coronavirus. The Chinese president also acknowledged that the epidemic was the most serious health emergency to hit China since the founding of the communist regime in 1949.
The viral pneumonia epidemic, which has infected nearly 77,000 people in China, including more than 2,400 fatally, "is a crisis, a great ordeal for us," he said, according to television reports. national.
China had already been the cradle in 2002-3 of an outbreak of SARS, which had killed some 650 people in the country, including Hong Kong. But in comparison, Covid-19 disease is "very difficult to prevent and control," said the Chinese number one at a meeting of the country's top leaders.
In response, his government had de facto quarantined exactly one month ago the city of Wuhan, the cradle of the virus, with its 11 million inhabitants.
These measures had not prevented the spread of the epidemic: in Italy, after an outbreak of contamination and two deaths, a dozen cities were placed in quarantine. Almost everywhere in the world, confinements, travel bans and event cancellations have since multiplied.
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The epidemic, which has spread to around 30 countries and territories, has led to a sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy. If Xi Jinping recognized that it would “inevitably have a strong impact on the economy and society”, he assured that its effects would be “short term” and manageable.