BEIJING — The general public should reach a consensus that early identification, reporting, isolation, diagnosis and treatment is the best and most effective way to contain the pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, a health official said in Beijing on Jan 29.

With intensive media coverage of the situation, the public has been aware of the urgency of curbing the outbreak, but efforts are still needed to mobilize the whole society to conduct health management in communities, Wu Hao, head of the Fangzhuang community health service center in Beijing, said at a press conference held by the National Health Commission.

"Such comprehensive prevention and control measures are the best and most effective way to prevent the virus from further spreading and ultimately contain the outbreak," Wu said.

The official also introduced practices of joint prevention work, saying local governments have promoted multiple measures to help residents recognize that the temporary inconvenience to their daily lives is for the good of them and their families and cooperating is their social responsibility.

Information technologies have been used in community-level health consulting, monitoring, and epidemic prevention, and online psychological consultants are also available to help ease anxiety amid the virus outbreak, according to Wu.

In many neighborhoods in Beijing, family doctors have teamed up with neighborhood committees to better manage the health of residents, and family doctors have launched effective checks of suspected patients to avoid unnecessary visits to hospitals, said Wu.

In Fengtai district, a family doctor mobile application is providing health information and sending messages to residents' mobile phones.

All these measures have helped residents recognize that isolation and medical observation at home are necessary parts of epidemic prevention and control, Wu said.

"But the isolation measures have never blocked our communications," he said.