BEIJING — The newly-revised COVID-19 diagnostic and treatment program does not mean prevention and control will ease in China, said a health official on March 18.

The revised program should achieve maximum effect with minimum costs through more science-based and accurate measures, said Jiao Yahui, a senior official with the National Health Commission, at a press conference.

According to the program, asymptomatic cases and those with mild symptoms, for instance, will go to designated quarantine facilities instead of hospitals, she said.

"This does not mean they will be left uncared. There will be medical staff at the facilities," she said.

Jiao urged local health departments to enforce prevention and control measures as attentively as before.