WUHAN — Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan conducted an on-site inspection on April 8 on the lifting of outbound transportation restrictions in Wuhan, the Chinese city hardest hit by COVID-19, urging continuous efforts in epidemic prevention and control to maintain the steady situation.

Leading a central government group to oversee the COVID-19 epidemic control work in Hubei, Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, asked for no relaxation or loose efforts after Wuhan lifted its 76-day lockdown which was imposed to contain the outbreak.

Sun learned about the removal of traffic control checkpoints and measures for tracing outbound travelers via video connections at the command center of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau and inspected security checks, entry control and prevention measures at the Wuchang Railway Station.

Strict health checkups should be carried out for people who are leaving Wuhan, Sun stressed, adding that large-scale flows of people and vehicles should be averted by staggering trips.

Sun urged efforts to focus on the control work in crowded places to prevent the epidemic from rebounding, formulating specific standards and plans such as regular temperature checks and disinfection, as well as educating the public on science-based approaches to protect themselves against the virus.

The central government group also inspected the local epidemic control headquarters, passenger transport stations, commercial organizations and other places.