“The pandemic still exists from a global perspective and the harm of the disease still exists, but we can say our country has achieved a major and decisive victory in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Liang Wannian, head of the National Health Commission’s Covid-19 expert response team, said.

“As a populous country, we have created a good example of successfully emerging from the pandemic.”

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No longer afraid: people in Chinese city of Wuhan begin to leave Covid pandemic behind

No longer afraid: people in Chinese city of Wuhan begin to leave Covid pandemic behind

The superiority of China’s political system, the power of its people, and its professional public health system were among the factors that “played a decisive role” in winning the battle against the disease, Liang said.

Health authorities had taken into account the metrics of the infection rate, population immunity levels, virus mutations, the resilience of China’s healthcare system, and the prevention and response mechanism to come to this conclusion, he explained.

This comes as China reverts to normal life after nearly three years of strict anti-pandemic restrictions involving mass testing, quarantines, lockdowns and border controls, under a “zero-Covid policy” that hurt its economy and sparked social discontent.