Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Jan 22 called for all-out efforts to curb the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province. She stressed the needs to implement the important instrucitons of President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the State Council, and take effective measures to curb the spread of the epidemic, so as to protect the life and safety of the people.

During an inspection tour to the city, the center of the outbreak, she visited the entry and exit check points of the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, as well as the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, where she was given detailed reports on disease source detection, outbreak situation, scientific research and the stockpile of emergency supplies. Noting that the prevention and control work of Wuhan concerns the overall situation, Sun urged the local authorities to focus their efforts on implementing the strictest measures to prevent and control the virus spread to other regions.

Sun ordered all-out efforts to curb virus outbreak by investigation on the source of disease, strict isolation, prevention of proliferation and blocking the transmission route, and called for pooling resources including hospitals, experts, effective drugs and medical equipment to save the patients with the best efforts. She also demanded high attention paid to the safety of medical workers, adding that large-scale gatherings should be avoided and the information on the outbreak should be transparent and open, in order to ensure a healthy Spring Festival Holiday for the people.