volunteer projects, rendering a total of more than 290 million hours of voluntary service.
The general public shouldered their responsibilities, united as one, and proactively participated in epidemic prevention and control. In the face of adversity, Chinese people have great faith in the Party and the government. They courageously shouldered their social responsibilities, and on this occasion made great sacrifices to win the battle against the epidemic.
The Chinese New Year holiday arrived amid the epidemic. Following government orders to contain the virus, the whole population acted in concert, and social exchanges shrank to a minimum. Visits to friends and relatives were canceled and so were other gatherings; people quarantined themselves, wore masks, began to take their body temperature regularly, and practiced other social distancing measures. The consensus was that protecting oneself was protecting others and making contribution to the country, so everyone took voluntary actions against the virus. People stayed at home for extended periods of time, taking online courses, honing culinary skills, and spending time with their families. Many found creative ways to keep themselves occupied, and confronted the epidemic with a positive attitude.
Speaking of the general public in China, Dr. Bruce Aylward, former assistant director general of the WHO and senior advisor to WHO director general, said at the press conference of WHO-China Joint Mission on Covid19 held on February 24 in Beijing, "And that's because we want to emphasize this can't work without the collective will of the population contributing to it. And that's what really distinguishes this country, this response and the ability to take these old-fashioned strategies, some of the earliest ones we had in public health, apply them to the most modern virus and somehow do that."[1]
A major crisis is a litmus test of the ruling Party's governance philosophy and effectiveness. The strong leadership of the CPC has been fundamental to China's rapid containment of the virus. The CPC has a strong leadership core, a people-oriented governance philosophy, and well-established organization and operation mechanisms. It quickly made the right decisions in response to the crisis. Under its leadership, efficient and powerful response measures were implemented. Within a short time, across-the-board crisis-response mechanisms were established down to the community level, motivating all those involved across the country to follow instructions and act as one.
The CPC has more than 4.6 million primary-level organizations, which have served as strongholds against the epidemic, rallying and serving the
- ↑ Press Conference of WHO-China Joint Mission on Covid-19, Beijing, February 24, 2020. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/transcripts/joint-mission-press-conferencescript-english-final.pdf?sfvrsn=51c90b9e_10.
