Chinese authorities have announced a "decisive victory" over COVID-19. The statement was made after a meeting on Friday of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party, headed by the leader of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping.

 The Chinese leadership notes that in a short period of time since last November, it was possible to "smoothly change" the approach to fighting the pandemic, and the authorities proved to be correct in their decisions. The statement of the Politburo also states that the death rate from coronavirus infection in the People's Republic of China is "the lowest in the world."

 "China has created a miracle in the history of mankind by coming out of the pandemic with such a high population level," Beijing emphasizes.

 Experts outside China have pointed to the lack of a clear picture of the disease in the country, particularly after the government abruptly abandoned its so-called zero-tolerance policy for the coronavirus in early December last year. It provided for strict isolation, forced quarantines and mass testing.

 There were reports that China's hospitals and crematoria were overcrowded after the strict restrictions were lifted. However, only more than 83,000 deaths from COVID-19 were officially confirmed - from the beginning of December to the beginning of February this year. Outside experts note that this number is small given the scale of the wave of infection in China. There were also reports that doctors were ordered not to confirm COVID-19 as the cause of death for patients, DPA reports.