BEIJING — Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan stressed at a national teleconference on March 19 the need to fully implement COVID-19 response measures in a timely manner to curb the spread of the virus.

Noting the complex, arduous and enduring nature of epidemic situation, Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, called for rigorous steps to be taken at port areas as a matter of priority to prevent imported cases.

Sun stressed all those that need to be hospitalized or isolated should be done so to completely stamp out all community infections, and work must be done to optimize the process of detection, diagnosis, review and information reporting.

She also urged efforts to balance nucleic acid testing resources across the regions and improve emergency response capacity.

Regular containment measures, including wearing masks and social distancing, should be strictly applied, Sun said, calling for strengthened control measures at schools and other key locations.