An awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to honor outstanding individuals and organizations in the fight against COVID-19.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will present medals to four individuals among others for their outstanding contributions in the fight.
(From left to right are Zhong Nanshan, Zhang Boli, Zhang Dingyu and Chen Wei)
The four awardees are Zhong Nanshan, a top respiratory expert who identified the SARS virus in 2003 and Chinese government's leading expert in the fight against COVID-19; 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.
The ceremony came following Xi's presidential order on August 11, which awards four people for their outstanding contributions. Zhong was awarded the Medal of the Republic while the remaining three were given the national honorary title "The People's Hero."
Xi will also make a speech at the September 8 ceremony.