Chinese authorities pressed for further efforts to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak at a meeting on Feb 4, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, who also is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the leading group on novel coronavirus prevention and control.

Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the group, also attended the meeting.

As mentioned at the meeting, President Xi called for pragmatic action by Party committees and governments at all levels to curb the proliferation of the epidemic at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Feb 3.

It was decided at the meeting on Feb 4 that Hubei province, with Wuhan in particular, remains at the core of virus prevention work. People’s safety and health, at present, predominates over any other issue. Treatment rates and cure rates eye a considerable increase, while infection rates and mortality should go in the opposite direction.

A huge multitude of berths are needed, and an assortment of hotels, venues, and training centers should be deployed for centralizing treatments for borderline cases, lightly infected patients and people exposed to coronavirus. Some first-grade hospitals, in particular, will receive coronavirus-infected patients.

An array of emergency shelter hospitals, along with 2,000 medical staff members, should arrive in Hubei for backup work with immediate effect on Feb 4.

Premium health care forces and high-level medical teams will be assembled to take care of intensive care hospitals or epidemic areas, with rescue equipment and protection supplies in place.

Grassroots medical forces, acting as first-hand receivers of coronavirus cases, call for an urgent expansion.

Shifts for medical staff should be reasonably arranged, to ensure their health and fitness.

It should take less time for cases to defy diagnosis, with high accuracy guaranteed.

Infection scanning forces should be assembled nationwide to support Wuhan, and qualified third-party scanning institutions are approved for engaging in nucleic scanning work.

Plans for diagnosis and treatment need further optimization, with effective clinical measures compiled into rules of diagnosis and treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine should be combined with western medicine, in a bid to strengthen the validation of the corresponding clinical treatment.

Those at the meeting also urged gathering medical treatment and protective resources in the front line of fighting against the epidemic, while ensuring the supply of daily necessities.

They stressed strengthening coordination and asked local governments to shoulder their responsibilities. Enterprises that produce medical protective gowns and face masks are encouraged to resume production and expand production capacity through multiple channels. Qualified imported medical supplies should be put into use as soon as possible. The popularization of utilizing key medical supplies and protective items should be promoted, and regular supply of daily necessities nationwide should be ensured.

Those at the meeting also urged coordinating key centrally-owned enterprises to increase the production of daily necessities, secure a smooth transportation network and tackle cross-region transport problems in a timely manner to increase the resource allocation efficiency and ensure market supply.

According to those at the meeting, the State Council novel coronavirus prevention and control mechanism should further align medical resources with people’s demands, and better coordinate the distribution of key medical supplies and protective items in accordance with local needs, especially the needs in Hubei province. Departments under the mechanism should take their own responsibilities and strengthen coordination. More efforts should be made in traffic control to prevent large population flows as the holiday ends.

Ding Xuexiang, Huang Kunming, Cai Qi, Wang Yi, Xiao Jie, and Zhao Kezhi, all members of the leading group, also attended the meeting.