BEIJING — China's Ministry of Justice has introduced 10 measures to promote the role of legal assistance in epidemic control and economic and social development, according to the ministry.

The measures include expanding the scope for legal assistance, developing new ways of providing legal services, and recruiting volunteers to assist in primary-level legal services in the country's less-developed western regions.

Local judicial and administrative organs, as well as legal assistance institutions, should focus their work on safeguarding people's legitimate rights and interests, helping micro and small enterprises resume work and production and solving epidemic-related disputes, an official with the ministry said.

In 2019, legal assistance institutions nationwide concluded more than 1.27 million legal assistance cases, helping nearly 2 million people solve their problems, data from the ministry showed.