Chinese people are paying their respects and showing gratitude to medical and health workers nationwide, as the country celebrates its third Medical Workers' Day on Wednesday.

President Xi Jinping has sent greetings to medical workers on Tuesday, hailing their remarkable contributions in the country's fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, and called on them to continue to give priority to the people and their lives.

By the end of 2019, China has more than 3.8 million medical workers, among whom 57.4 percent have a bachelor's degree or above. Their service ability, level of technical expertise and professional accomplishments have steadily improved over the years.

Since the beginning of this year, in the face of the raging COVID-19 epidemic, tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and other health workers across the country have devoted themselves in the battle against the novel coronavirus, running against time to save lives and safeguard people's health and safety.

Thanks to their months-long arduous efforts, COVID-19 was put under control in China by April, with people's life and work in most places back on track.

'A Great Wall against the virus'

"The medical workers built a Great Wall against the virus, bringing light and hope to the nation at a dark time," said a white paper titled "Fighting COVID-19: China in Action" published in June by the Chinese government.

When the pneumonia with unknown cause was first found in central China's Wuhan City last December, no one knew how dangerous the infectious disease was. There was little knowledge about how it sickened people, how it spread, and what could be the effective treatment.  

Under these circumstances, medical workers from all over the country did not hesitate to march to the front line of the epicenter Wuhan, forgoing holidays, leaving loved ones behind, and risking their own lives to treat patients.

Starting from January 24, as the country started to celebrate the traditional Chinese New Year, more than 42,000 medical workers from 346 medical teams from different hospitals across China gathered in Hubei Province to battle COVID-19. Among them were top experts, military medics, experienced doctors and nurses of various disciplines from the country's best hospitals in different provinces.

Tong Zhaohui, deputy dean of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital and an expert on respiratory and critical illness, described it as "a sense of mission." He arrived in Wuhan as early as January 18. "As a doctor, I must treat patients… It's our responsibility and we should shoulder it," he said.

Together with 540,000 local medics, they provided professional care and treatment to tens of thousands of patients. From the elderly aged over 80 to infants just born, the medical staff spared no efforts to cure every single patient.

Read more: Medical teams from across China strengthen epidemic control in Hubei

As of August, the overall recovery rate of COVID-19 patients is 93.5 percent across China, and that of severe patients and critically ill patients stands at 98.55 percent and 77.44 percent respectively.

Except for sporadic cases in some areas from time to time, the coronavirus has been effectively controlled in most places of China.

Honors to the heroes

Earlier this month, President Xi signed a presidential order to award four prominent specialists for their outstanding contribution in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic.

Zhong Nanshan, a top respiratory expert who identified the SARS virus in 2003 and has been leading the China's efforts in the fight against COVID-19, was awarded the Medal of the Republic, the highest honor to a citizen in China.

The national honorary title "the People's Hero," was conferred on Zhang Boli, a traditional Chinese medicine expert who presided over the research of the COVID-19 treatment scheme combining traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine; Zhang Dingyu, head of Wuhan's designated coronavirus-treating Jinyintan Hospital; and Chen Wei, a military medical scientist who made major achievements in COVID-19-related basic research and development of vaccine and protective medicine.

Click here for more about the awardees' stories.

On Wednesday, eighty doctors across the country have been awarded the "Medal of Chinese Medical Worker," according to a list released by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association.

Those honored include Tao Yong, ophthalmologist at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, President of Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital Zhang Dingyu, and Zhang Wenhong, head of the Shanghai COVID-19 medical team.

Such honors are highly welcomed by Chinese people. On social media platform Weibo, the "Medical Workers' Day" hashtag has attracted nearly 900 million views. "Salute to our health care heroes," "Thank you for once fighting for our lives," and "You deserve all the honors" are some of the most frequently posted comments by netizens.