China held a ceremony on Tuesday morning in Beijing to commend role models in the country's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Medal of the Republic was conferred on renowned respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan.

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 credited with major achievements in COVID-19-related basic research and development of vaccine and protective medicine.