BEIJING — China beefed up COVID-19 control measures during the May Day holiday amid the country's resolute efforts to prevent the epidemic from rebounding, said an official from the National Health Commission (NHC).

Epidemic prevention measures were strictly implemented in transportation, hotels and restaurants by local authorities. Scenic spots across the country imposed restrictions on tourist flows to avoid mass gathering, said deputy director of the NHC Li Bin at a press conference on May 8.

The State Council joint prevention and control mechanism sent a liaison group and a supervisory group to Hubei and Heilongjiang provinces, respectively, to inspect and urge the implementation of epidemic control measures during the holiday.

Meanwhile, the NHC dispatched guiding groups to eight border regions including Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Yunnan province to oversee the prevention and control of imported cases and related capacity building, said Li.

No sporadic cases with unknown sources or cluster cases were found during the holiday, showing that the epidemic control achievements in China have been further consolidated, Li noted.

An overall evaluation of epidemic control work during the holiday, however, would not be available until 14 days later, he added.

Health authorities will continue to track the results and summarize effective practices conducive to both epidemic control and business resumption at places such as tourist spots, restaurants and shopping malls.

Continuous efforts will be made to implement regular epidemic prevention and control to every detail, with priorities given to preventing imported cases, expanding nucleic acid testing and key areas and groups, Li said.