I. Introduction

Criminal law is one of the quick-responding regimes to the COVID-19 episode in China. On February 6, 2020, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued joint judicial interpretation — the 2020 Opinions on Publishing Criminal and Illegal Activities that Hinder the Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (hereafter “the 2020 Opinions”). Following the 2020 Opinions, several batches of typical cases were issued by the Supreme People’s Court for further guidance.

This Note focuses on the update of two Crimes in the 2020 Opinions that directly relate to the spread and control of coronavirus. The first one is the crime of endangering public security by dangerous means, regulated in Article 114 and 115 of the Criminal Law. The second one is the crime of impairing the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, regulated in Article 330 of the Criminal Law. The relationship between the two Crimes has developed greatly from SARS to COVID-19.

In this Note, Section II briefly introduces the criminal law system in China. Section III considers how the 2020 Opinions improve the balance of conviction between the two Crimes. Section IV further discusses the possible increasing impact of local governments’ regulatory power in the COVID-19 episode on the criminal law system.