The Chinese government rolled out measures on regular COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, and stressed the importance of prevention and control work for the upcoming May Day holiday, according to those at a meeting held on April 30.

Premier Li Keqiang, also 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, presided over the meeting. Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the leading group, attended the meeting.

Those at the meeting stressed the normalization of epidemic control and prevention measures, with priority given to key areas and key groups, to prevent a relapse in control.

They also called for preventing risks of imported cases to ensure full recovery of the economy and the society.

Prevention work should not be taken lightly and key areas in epidemic control should be taken seriously, as the epidemic in China has been contained and preventive measures have become normal.

The joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council has set up a liaison system for epidemic control work in Central China's Hubei province, and sent a supervision team to North China's Heilongjiang province to back local efforts in infection prevention in hospitals and patients' treatment.

Those at the meeting also stressed prevention and control work for the upcoming May Day holiday, and detailed measures targeting transportation, hotels and tourist attractions will be rolled out.

Individual protection measures should be strictly followed, and precautions against infection risks from crowd gatherings should be enhanced, according to those at the meeting.

Local authorities should prepare emergency plans to deal with new cases immediately once they are discovered. And, they should cut off transmission routes as soon as possible, and honestly report related information to the public.

According to the requirements of regular control, standards for deciding risk and response levels should be optimized, and the two levels should be adjusted accurately in line with local conditions, those at the meeting said. Prevention and control areas should be scientifically designated to the smallest units, including buildings, wards, communities and villages.

Those at the meeting also stressed measures to discover, report, quarantine and treat confirmed and suspected cases early and keep track of those who are close contacts. 

Daily protective measures, such as washing hands often, ventilating and disinfecting workplaces, keeping social distancing and correctly wearing masks should be continued.

Health conditions of students, faculty and staff in schools should be reported on a daily basis, those at the meeting said, and management of community environment, rental houses, dormitories and newcomers should be strengthened.

Places, including shopping malls and restaurants, should be opened in an orderly manner, and indoor sites, such as sports venues, libraries and museums should be opened by appointment to avoid crowded clusters.

Those at the meeting also underlined work to improve nucleic acid testing capability, speed up production of testing kits and equipment, and reduce testing time. Key groups should be thoroughly tested, and other groups should be tested if they want.

Also, work should be done to ensure testing results are shared across regions, in an effort to promote targeted prevention and control and overall work resumption.

Leading group members Ding Xuexiang, Huang Kunming, Cai Qi, Wang Yi, Xiao Jie and Zhao Kezhi also attended the meeting.