It's the sort of mass gathering that, if it were anything else, would have been already cancelled due to coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Since late January, sports and cultural events across China have been scuttled.

Cinemas are closed, schools are shut, and the gates of theme parks are locked — such is the aversion to allowing group gatherings while COVID-19 continues to spread.

Most restaurants and bars in major cities haven't reopened.

But plans for the National People's Congress — a huge meeting often dubbed abroad as China's rubber-stamp parliament — remain underway.

"Cancelling it hasn't happened since the Cultural Revolution," Chinese University of Hong Kong's political analyst Willy Lam said.

"I think at this stage, the possibility of cancellation is big, because there's not only the risk of spreading the infection, but also if the deputies [delegates] were together in Beijing, they may post hostile and embarrassing questions to the top officials about the outbreak."

So far, it's business as usual

The National People's Congress runs like clockwork each year.

The security in the capital beefs up in the weeks ahead. Many VPNs for accessing the internet beyond China's borders stop working.

Thousands of journalists line up in the frigid early hours to capture the spectacle — military generals filing in alongside ethnic minority delegates, who are paraded in colourful costumes to highlight China's diversity.

Inside, the leaders with the actual power — all in suits — set out the country's achievements and map out the year ahead.

The rigid predictability of the event makes the prospect of cancelling it all the more extraordinary.

So far, speculation about whether it will go ahead is conspicuously absent from China's tightly controlled media.

It's not the sort of thing an opinion columnist for, say, the Global Times or the Xinhua News agency can freely write about.

But some of the local preliminary meetings for delegations have been postponed, and at least one (foreign) media outlet is reporting officials are considering delaying it but hope not to.

For now at least, registration for media accreditation remains open, and it appears to be business as usual.

Clock ticking on a no-win situation

State media is trumpeting what health authorities claim is a declining increase in the daily count of new infections, even as the death toll continues to rise sharply each day.

Constant talk of "victory" over the epidemic by Mr Xi and reports of discharged patients could be setting the groundwork for a triumphant Congress celebrating the country's swift containment of the outbreak.

But few medical experts expect it to be contained within two-and-a-half weeks.

Mr Xi will have to make a call soon on the congress, and neither option seems appealing.

"If the infection figures show some signs of improvement, it's possible Xi Jinping might take the risk," Mr Lam said.

"Because it will be a big embarrassment to cancel."