Recently, an outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia occurred in several areas including Wuhan City, Hubei Province. As of 18:00 on January 20, a total of 224 cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia were reported in the mainland China, including 217 confirmed cases (198 in Wuhan, 5 in Beijing, 14 in Guangdong Province); 7 suspected cases (2 in Sichuan Province, 1 in Yunnan Province, 2 in Shanghai, 1 case in Guangxi, and 1 in Shandong Province). There was 1 confirmed case reported in Japan, 2 confirmed cases reported in Thailand, and 1 confirmed case reported in South Korea.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to it.President Xi Jinping made important instructions that attention should be paid to the outbreak of new coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei and other places, and we should attach paramount importance to the prevention and control work. It is now the Chinese New Year period, and the busy traffic makes it more urgent for prevention and control of the epidemic. Party committees and governments at all levels and relevant departments should put the safety and health of the people in the first place, develop a thorough plan, organize all forces to carry out prevention and control, take practical and effective measures to curb the spread of the epidemic. We must make all-out efforts to treat infected patients, speed up the augmentation of medical personnel, and coordinate civilian and military medical resources. We should strengthen case monitoring. release information on the epidemic in a timely manner and deepen international cooperation. More rigorous measures should be adopted to prevent further spread of the virus, so as to ensure ensure people have a peaceful and merry Chinese New Year festival.

Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, gave instructions that all local governments and departments should attach paramount importance to the health of the people, make every effort to prevent the epidemic. Attention should be paid to monitoring, screening and warning at an early stage. He also urged the research on the source of the virus and infection, transmission and other mechanisms, and underscored timely, accurate and transparent release of information to address concerns from home and abroad. People should have access to the epidemic protection knowledge. We should work together with the World Health Organization, relevant countries and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to jointly prevent the spread of the epidemic.

The meeting on Jan. 20 made arrangements for the prevention and control work of the epidemic and a leading group wan set up by the National Health Commission to oversee the work across the country. Local governments at all levels including Hubei and related departments are demanded to take novel coronavirus outbreak prevention and control as the top priority of their work.