BEIJING - Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, inspected the Beijing Ditan Hospital, a designated institution treating the novel coronavirus pneumonia, on Monday afternoon.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learned about the treatment of infected patients and made video calls to hospitals in Wuhan receiving patients with severe conditions, heard reports from the central guiding team in Hubei province and the provincial headquarters on the prevention and control of the epidemic, and extended regards to medical workers on the frontline.

Xi then went to the center for disease control and prevention of Chaoyang District, where he learned about the district's emergency response, epidemiological investigation and screening report efforts, and the city's overall epidemic prevention and control work.