Fighting coronavirus 'a crisis and big test' for China, says Xi Jinping

President Xi Jinping on Sunday said the coronavirus epidemic was China's most serious public health crisis and called for efforts to help overcome the "largest public emergency" and learn from "obvious shortcomings exposed" in its response, so it could improve its ability to handle future crises.

"For us, this is a crisis and also a big test. After hard work, the current situation of epidemic prevention and control is turning out good," said Xi during a meeting with government officials in Beijing, as quoted by state news agency Xinhua.

"The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic was a major public health emergency with the fastest spread, the widest range of infections, and the most difficult to prevent and control in China since the founding of the New China," he added.

Xi also said the COVID-19 epidemic will inevitably deal a big blow to China's economic and social development.

"However, at such a time it is even more important to view China's development in a comprehensive, dialectical and long-term perspective, and to strengthen and firm up confidence," he added.

He further said that containing the outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan and the wider province of Hubei was among the country's top strategic goals, reported South China Morning Post.

The number of people who have died from the novel coronavirus in the Chinese province of Hubei has gone up to 2,346, regional health authorities report, saying that the total number of people infected with the virus in Hubei has surpassed 64,000.

According to the latest update, the total number of confirmed cases in the country has reached 76,936, with 2,442 deaths.