Chart 6. Daily Figure for Newly Confirmed Cases on the Chinese Mainland
(February 21-March 17)
(1) February 21: Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. He pointed out that while significant progress had been made in containing the epidemic, the turning point had not yet arrived at the national level. Wuhan and the entire province of Hubei still faced a grave and complex threat. He instructed that differentiated control measures be adopted to address the problems in different regions, to defend Hubei and its capital city, to step up support to regions with insufficient capacity, and to make an all-out effort to ensure the safety of Beijing, the national capital. He required that the economic and social order be managed in parallel with the anti-epidemic endeavor, and called for an orderly return to normal work and daily life.
(2) February 21: Through its Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, the State Council issued Guidelines on Covid-19 Prevention and Control Measures for Resumption of Work.
The NHC released Protocol on Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (Edition 5).
(3) February 21: Most provinces and equivalent administrative units started to downgrade their public health emergency response level in light of the local situation, and gradually lifted traffic restrictions. By February 24, all provincial trunk highways had reopened, and order was restored to the transport networks with the exception of those in Hubei and Beijing.
(4) February 23: President Xi spoke to 170,000 officials nationwide by video link, at a meeting on coordinating epidemic control with economic and
