Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan on Mar. 10 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began in January 2020, according to Xinhua News.

Inspect epidemic prevention and control work in the region

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, arrived in the city by plane.

He visited Wuhan to inspect the epidemic prevention and control work in the region.

Global Times reported that Xi will also meet front line medical workers, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers, community workers, police officers, grassroot government workers and local residents who have all played a part in tackling the outbreak.

Previous efforts

This visit is among the other actions taken by Xi in response to the epidemic.

According to Global Times, his previous efforts include:

• Calling for six meetings of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee
• Convening one meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee
• Ordering one meeting aimed at comprehensively deepening the reform
• Setting up one meeting on advancing law-based governance
• Holding one teleconference with 170,000 officials to reflect on his personal involvement in combating Covid-19
• Having 15 telephone calls with 14 heads of nations, including France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S.
• Meeting with World Health Organisation (WHO)'s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the heads of Cambodia and Mongolia

In addition to the meetings, Xi had also visited scientific research and development institutions in Beijing.

Ghebreyesus had previosuly praised Xi for his leadership response to Covid-19.

He said via Reuters:

"I was very encouraged and impressed by the president’s detailed knowledge of the outbreak and his personal involvement in the outbreak. This was for me a very rare leadership."

Only 19 new cases reported in China on Mar. 10

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in China have been decreasing dramatically in recent weeks.

China reported only 19 new confirmed cases on Mar. 10, the lowest number since the country first compiled its data on Jan. 21.

The total number of confirmed cases in China currently stands at 80,754.

Meanwhile, 1,297 patients had been discharged from hospitals. 59,897 patients have recovered thus far.

Photo by Pang Xinglei/Xinhua via Getty Images.