In COVID-19 fight, CPC intolerant of officials neglecting the people

The ongoing fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a test of Communist Party of China (CPC) officials. While most are fully devoted to the battle that concerns the people's life and health, a few have failed to pass the test.

Recently, a number of officials in Hubei, Yunnan, Shandong, Zhejiang and other provinces received disciplinary punishment. They have been found disobeying the unified command, favoring superfluous work styles, passing the buck and neglecting their responsibilities.

As a political party that stresses strict self-governance, the CPC will not tolerate these irresponsible actions. Besides punishing the officials directly involved, the accountability of the principal Party and government officials are also pursued in serious cases.

The epidemic situation remains grim and complex. It is time to test whether the CPC's political and organizational advantages and close contact with the people can be translated into advantages in curbing the epidemic.

The top leadership has made it clear that officials who are inactive or acting erratically, who neither engage themselves nor carry out in-depth work, and who are inept and incompetent, should be held accountable in a timely manner, and those with serious problems should be removed from their posts immediately.

At this critical time, it is the CPC members' duty to face up to challenges and take their leading roles as scientists, researchers, medical staff, officials, workers, farmers and more. What is needed now is not hollow slogans or personal grandstanding, but concrete actions to solve problems.

In some areas, departments at different levels created all kinds of forms, asking grassroots cadres to fill them out and submit them quickly, although the contents of these forms are almost the same. Such formalistic and bureaucratic methods have increased the burden of grassroots cadres and diverted their efforts from combating the epidemic. The CPC is guarding against such archenemies in the fight against the virus.

Being responsible for the people also means respecting the facts. Data about the epidemic must be tallied and released in a timely, accurate and comprehensive manner. In the hardest-hit province of Hubei, after a revision of diagnosing methodology last week, local authorities demanded that cases that have already been confirmed are not allowed to be cut. Whoever removed them would be held responsible, as any inaccuracies in data could cause public confusion, delay actions, and finally harm the interests of the people.

A sense of responsibility is also required on the economic battleground. As the COVID-19 epidemic has had an impact on China's economic and social development, the CPC is making all-out efforts to resume work and production, accelerate business and trade activities, ensure job stability and continue poverty alleviation work in order to realize the development goals and tasks for this year. There is no room for hesitancy or inaction.

As said in the report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC held in 2017, achieving national rejuvenation will be no walk in the park; it will take more than drum beating and gong clanging to get there. Realizing the dream demands a great struggle.

The war against COVID-19 is continuing. So is the test facing the more than 90 million members and 4.6 million primary-level organizations of the CPC. Overcoming these latest hardships, the CPC will safeguard and prove once again its advanced nature and purity.