BEIJING — A health official said Central Chinese province Hubei and its capital Wuhan, the hardest-hit Chinese city by COVID-19, have the support of 1.4 billion Chinese people.

Ma Xiaowei, head of the National Health Commission, made the remarks while talking about the mobilization of medics across the country in assisting the battle against the novel coronavirus in Hubei and Wuhan in an interview with Xinhua.

The number of severe COVID-19 cases in Hubei dropped to zero on April 24, and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 cases in Wuhan went down to zero on April 26, marking an important achievement against COVID-19 in Hubei and Wuhan, the main battlefield of China's war against coronavirus, Ma said.

Ma said that 21 provincial-level regions had dispatched more than 1,000 health professionals each to help Hubei, among which Jiangsu, Guangdong and Liaoning provinces had sent more than 2,000 medics each.

"Putting people's life and safety in the first place" means medics need to show tenacity in their work, Ma said, praising medics for their tireless efforts to save lives.