China should terminate restrictions that hinder work resumption soon in most areas as it continues to maintain a firm grasp on controlling and preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus, Chinese authorities said on March 23. 

To make sure workers get back to businesses as soon as possible, local governments should drop any unnecessary approval paperwork and mandatory prework quarantine, except for people coming from medium to high-risk regions, the authorities said.

The leading group of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, led by Premier Li Keqiang, held a meeting on March 23 to discuss plans for opening up China's economy to continue to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The leading group said that after looking at the domestic and international situation of COVID-19 transmission, it has agreed on a policy of focusing on preventing cross-border infections and new transmissions within the country.

The officials said the chain of transmission has been broken in Wuhan, the capital city of Central China's Hubei province, and other cities in China. However, there are still risks in terms of isolated cases and regional outbreaks in the country.

The decision was made after China's situation had improved considerably nationwide. Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus in the country, reported zero new infections for five consecutive days, according to the provincial health commission as of midnight on March 22. 

China has been fostering work and production resumption at the local and national levels, given the significant drop in the number of new infections.

Some of the measures include making full use of tax cuts, fee reductions and financing tools to help companies operate again and strengthening employment services for college graduates, promoting the employment of migrant workers and increasing vocational skills training to stabilize employment.