For Ran Kangping, a doctor at the Puding County People's Hospital of Anshun City in southwestern China's Guizhou Province, the just-concluded Spring Festival holiday remained busy as usual.

Since China optimized its COVID-19 management measures in December last year, it has become a new working routine for Ran and his colleagues to provide door-to-door medical services in villages. Over the past weeks, Ran has helped village doctors treat COVID-19 patients and identify severe cases.

From Jan. 21, when the Spring Festival holiday began, to Jan. 28, a total of 132 visits were made by medical workers from county-level hospitals to 12 township clinics and community health centers, as well as 86 village clinics in Puding County, conducting health examinations and emergency treatment.

Efforts made in Puding serve as a good example of China's unceasing endeavors to enhance epidemic response capacity at the grassroots level, after the country's COVID-19 prevention and control work entered a new stage.

Downward trend in cases

China's National Health Commission (NHC) said at a press conference on Monday that the intensity of the epidemic situation is currently at a low level in the country. The number of COVID-19 cases nationwide has been trending downward, said NHC spokesperson Mi Feng.

In order to better grasp the epidemic situation, a monitoring and reporting mechanism for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 cases at primary-level medical institutions across the country was set up, said NHC official Fu Wei.

According to official statistics, fever clinic patients, hospital outpatients, and emergency cases related to COVID-19 in township clinics and community health centers initially increased after Dec. 21, 2022, when monitoring began, but have since decreased.

During the week-long holiday, fever clinic visits dropped about 40 percent from before the Spring Festival and were down by 94 percent compared with the peak monitored on Dec. 23, 2022.

Steady operation of medical institutions

As the first line of defense against COVID-19, grassroots medical and healthcare institutions have been operating in a steady and orderly manner.

During the holiday, primary-level fever clinics across the country were on 24-hour duty to treat mild COVID-19 cases and identify and transfer severe cases.

Statistics showed that the provision of medical services at township clinics and community health centers nationwide have improved in January.

At present, over 94 percent of grassroots medical and healthcare institutions are stocked with Traditional Chinese Medicine, febrifuges, and antitussives sufficient for over a week.

As of Jan. 27, grassroots medical institutions across the country had 2.89 million finger-clip oximeters and 219,000 oxygen generators.

Fortified rural areas

The epidemic remained stable in the vast countryside during the Spring Festival holiday, which has seen the busiest travel rush in three years as the massive population returned to their hometowns for family reunions.

There was no rise in COVID-19 cases across the rural areas during the holiday season, said Mao Dezhi from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Special measures have been put in place targeting rural residents. They include delivering targeted services to vulnerable and high-risk groups, such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, and those with underlying health conditions.

Since December 2022, China has carried out health surveys and multi-level health risk classifications for key groups of population. During the Spring Festival holiday, primary-level healthcare facilities nationwide provided door-to-door services and follow-up visits for more than 9.8 million recipients aged 65 and over.

At a village medical clinic in the city of Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, Gong Hanshuai is treating patients. Gong and his colleagues have maintained regular contact with high-risk people in the village to keep abreast of their health conditions.

Gong said that the tiered diagnosis and treatment strategy has ensured the smooth operation of medical facilities in rural areas.

"Our village clinic serves as a frontline post. We will transfer those in critical condition to a higher-level hospital as quickly as possible," Gong said.