Xi Jinping makes a Rare Appearance in Beijing Wearing a Mask since the Outbreak of the Deadly Virus
3 min read[February 10, 2020]
Beijing officially “closed the city” on 10 January. According to official media reports, Xi Jinping has not been seen in public while “investigating and guiding” the prevention and control of the new-type coronary pneumonia.
This is the first time that Xi Jinping has gone out into the public since the outbreak of a new coronavirus in mainland China.
According to the Communist Party ’s official Xinhua news agency, Xi Jinping first went to Anhuali Community, Anzhen Street, Chaoyang District.
The photos show Xi Jinping wearing a surgical mask when meeting with officials indoors or greeting the people outdoors. Cai Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chen Jining, the Mayor of Beijing, and Ding Xuexiang, the director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also wore masks.
According to public reports, Wuhan pneumonia declared an outbreak at the end of December last year, but the authorities kept it low-key and concealed the truth until Xi Jinping issued an order only on January 20 to “do the best to prevent and control the infections.”
That’s when the number of confirmed cases surged. Authorities subsequently adopted tough measures such as the isolation of Wuhan City. However, the outside world and the people said that the severity of the epidemic far exceeded the official information and was unsatisfactory.
Xi Jinping held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the 1st of January 25 when he decided to close cities such as Wuhan.
On the 26th the epidemic leadership group set up, led by Premier Li Keqiang instead of Xi Jinping, which caused Xi not attempting to take responsibility.
Xi Jinping met with the Secretary-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Beijing on January 28 saying, “I have always personally directed and extended my help to prevent and control” the epidemic.
Strangely, his words were deleted when the official media released the manuscript.
Since then, Xi Jinping did not appear in public. According to CCTV reports, during this period, Xi Jinping hosted a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on February 3 to study the prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic.
Xi led the meeting of the Committee on Governing the Country Fully According to the Law, but the relevant news did not show any images with only the newscaster reading the draft.
It was not until February 5 when the visiting Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appeared in the media that Xi Jinping came out, claiming that the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection was “getting positive results.”
But in fact, the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic continued to spiral out of control. The Mainland has more than 80 cities sealed off. Actually, Beijing has recently officially issued “strict epidemic prevention and control notice in residential areas with closed management” involving 10 strict control measures. Shanghai has officially been struck with similar measures.
As the political center of China, in addition to the officially confirmed cases, there have also been reports that the virus has invaded multiple organ and military hospital compound courtyards in Beijing.
