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China Continues Slow Recovery from Pandemic as Ceremonial Congress Reschedules Meeting


Pedestrians wearing face masks walk past a screen displaying an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping after the city's emergency alert level for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was downgraded, in Shanghai, China March 23, 2020.
Pedestrians wearing face masks walk past a screen displaying an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping after the city's emergency alert level for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was downgraded, in Shanghai, China March 23, 2020.

China’s parliament will hold its annual session in late May, two months later than scheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The official Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday that the National People’s Congress will convene in Beijing on May 22. The 3,000-member ceremonial legislature was originally scheduled to meet on March 5, but the session was postponed after the COVID-19 outbreak that originated in the central city of Wuhan spread throughout the mainland.

The gathering indicates that Chinese leaders are growing increasingly confident that the country has overcome the pandemic, which has infected nearly 83,000 people in China and killed more than 4,600.

China's official number of infections have dwindled dramatically over the last month, with no new deaths reported for two consecutive weeks.

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