Legal protections, services upheld during pandemic

Since the pandemic hit, Chinese courts filed 1.36 million cases, had 250,000 hearings and mediated 590,000 times on the internet, with abundant online evidence exchanges and deliveries, Zhou said. He added smart courts offered efficient legal services and strong legal protection to both litigants and social development.

The SPP and SPC handled a series of influential cases during the outbreak to ensure the accuracy of application of the law and keep the public informed, the reports said.

Zhou Guangquan, a national legislator and law professor at Tsinghua University, welcomed the judicial measures against the pandemic-related offenses.

"Providing guidelines and listing typical cases are helpful for judicial officials when new problems are emerging in practice. The pandemic was no exception," he said. "The timely interpretation of laws and clarification of prevention measures from the top court and the top procuratorate gave clear solutions to different offenses, which demonstrated the spirit of the law and were in conformity with basic legal principles."