A plane carrying medical materials from China arrives at the Liege airport, Belgium, on March 18, 2020. A batch of 1 million donated medical masks were flown in Belgium on Wednesday, en route to France. The medical supply was mobilized by two Chinese charities to help combat the spread of COVID-19. [Photo/Xinhua]

President: China will provide assistance within its ability to help affected nations

China will strengthen international cooperation on novel coronavirus epidemic control and continue to provide assistance within its ability to countries affected by the epidemic, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist 

Party of China Central Committee, said on Wednesday.

Xi made the remark when presiding over the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in which members analyzed the epidemic situation at home and abroad and its challenge to economic development.

Given that the epidemic is spreading across the world, Xi said that China should work closely with the World Health Organization, intensify analysis and prediction on global epidemic development, improve measures for dealing with the risk of imported infections and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries.

Globally, the pandemic had caused 194,029 cases of infection as of Wednesday, according to the WHO.

Xi said the epidemic situation is improving at home, but China is still faced with new situations, especially the global spread of the virus as well as its negative impact on the world economy.

Prevention and control work should be firmly implemented to avoid the reversal of China's hard-won improving epidemic situation, Xi said.

Meeting participants stressed the need to improve the mechanisms of data sharing, information disclosure and inspection of people entering China to prevent imported infections, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The meeting called for greater efforts to improve coordinating mechanisms of epidemic control strategies with other countries, enhance sharing of experience in prevention and treatment and advancing joint scientific research.

Participants agreed that the epidemic control work in priority regions, especially Hubei province and Wuhan, should remain consistent and cautious.

The meeting said patients in critical condition will be concentrated in high-level hospitals for better medical treatment, and work and production in Wuhan will be gradually resumed.

While control measures in other parts of Hubei will be canceled in an orderly manner, the meeting instructed local authorities to cooperate in sending stranded people out of Hubei and returning those stranded in other places through point-to-point or one-stop transfers.

With China's economy facing increasing downward pressure, Party committees and governments at all levels are instructed to actively promote work and production resumption in an orderly way to minimize the epidemic's impact, according to the meeting.

It was decided that if all parts of a province are deemed low-risk areas, the province should fully resume normal production and living order. Except for Hubei and Beijing, provinces with medium risk should take preventive measures and resume work and life in an orderly manner.

The medical certificate required for movement of personnel and goods through low-risk regions should be recognized nationwide, with no more blockades or quarantine measures, participants said.

While implementing epidemic control measures, efforts should also be made to provide convenience for businesspeople and keep the international supply chains smooth to ensure that business activities can be carried out normally, they said.