China will take further dynamic measures in border regions and expand the scope of virus testing in key areas to guard against a rebound of novel coronavirus disease. All-around production and lifestyles will be resumed with the adoption of normal prevention and control practices, according to those at a meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on April 9.
Premier Li also is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and head of the leading group on novel coronavirus prevention and control. Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the leading group, also attended the meeting.
It was stressed at the meeting that epidemic control measures and focuses should be adjusted in a timely manner to effectively prevent imported cases. Local governments along the border should be wholly responsible for targeted control and prevention. A multi-level and all-around epidemic prevention and control network must be established to reduce unnecessary personnel flow while guaranteeing normal cargo transportation, according to those at the meeting.
The nation will support border regions and port cities by mobilizing resources from inland areas to improve their capacities of testing for the virus and treating infections. Enough medical supplies must be guaranteed and more testing labs must be built in border regions. A joint prevention and control mechanism should be further built with China’s neighboring countries, and more care should be given to Chinese nationals abroad to keep them safe and healthy.
Those at the meeting required efforts to strengthen international cooperation, provide assistance for other countries in virus control and prevention, including medical supplies procurement.
Also, quality supervision of export products should be intensified, and products without certificates issued by departments in charge of medical products are prohibited from export.
The epidemic may rebound at home against the backdrop of clustering cases found recently, those at the meeting said, and urged efforts to discover and strengthen weaknesses in prevention and control.
Key areas should expand the scope and raise the rate of nucleic acid and serum tests and do epidemiological investigations to discover infections and keep a close eye on asymptomatic cases.
The principles of early discovery, reporting, quarantine and treatment should be strictly implemented, and related information should be reported to the public in a timely and transparent manner.
After lifting traffic controls, Wuhan should proceed with efforts to treat cases in severe condition, continue preventive measures in clusters and communities, and reduce unnecessary activities that involve people gathering.
Fever clinics and the infectious disease reporting system should continue to play their roles, and those who are infected should be dealt with according to early plans, once discovered.
Those at the meeting also called on work to improve testing technologies and develop drugs and vaccines against the virus.
Amid regular control and prevention of the virus, related departments should actively promote resumption of production and work, help recover domestic demands, assist enterprises of all types going through difficulties, solve problems of people severely affected by the epidemic, and make all-out efforts to achieve economic and social development.
Leading group members Ding Xuexiang, Huang Kunming, Cai Qi, Wang Yi, Xiao Jie and Zhao Kezhi also attended the meeting.
