Premier Li Keqiang stressed that measures should be taken to control the import of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the resurgence of cases within China.

Premier Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and also head of the leading group on novel coronavirus prevention and control, made the remarks at a meeting on March 23.

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

The transmission of the virus in the country, with Wuhan as the main battlefield, has basically been interrupted, but there still are some reported cases and risks of local outbreaks.

Also, as the epidemic has become a pandemic, a strategy of preventing the import of the disease abroad and a relapse at home should be taken to maintain the gains in the fight against the epidemic, according to those at the meeting.

Authorities in Central China’s Hubei province and Wuhan city should focus on medical treatment and community control, and continue to treat critically ill patients and newly-found cases, while making epidemiological investigations, according to those at the meeting.

Local governments should release information in an open and transparent way, and no omission or concealment of information is allowed.

Once an epidemic situation is discovered, precise control should be implemented to control the epidemic within a limited scope.

Those at the meeting urged work to further strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, prevent cross-border input and output of the epidemic in an accurate and effective way, help the international community to fight against the epidemic, and facilitate foreign commercial procurement of anti-epidemic materials.

China’s embassies and consulates abroad must try their best to provide consular protection to overseas Chinese citizens and help them fight against the epidemic.

The orderly resumption of work and production with accurate prevention and control measures also were stressed.

Guidelines for the prevention and control of the epidemic for resumption of work and production in enterprises and institutions shall be dynamically adjusted and optimized at the appropriate time.

In most provinces with sustained low risks, economic and social order should be restored at the provincial scale, and prevention and control measures that are incompatible with the normal order of production and people’s life should be adjusted or cancelled.

Unreasonable restrictions on workers returning to work should be cancelled, and no quarantine should be implemented on them except for the people coming from high-risk and medium-risk areas.

Local governments and enterprises should fulfill their responsibilities and keep ventilation and sterilization in work places, with good health monitoring and staff protection.

As required at the meeting, fever clinics, pre-diagnosis and triage will be kept to maintain ability in emergency response and epidemic prevention for early detection, reports, quarantine, and treatment.

With good prevention in place, public transportation and logistics will be resumed in full swing. Meanwhile, local departments should solve problems for enterprises and the public in resumption of production and daily life.

Those at the meeting also asked the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council to work with Hubei province to help those stranded in the province return home and to work.

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