Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that prevention and control are at a critical stage and there is a need for collective action to control the spread of the deadly coronavirus. "The infection prevention and control is at a critical moment and there is a need to carry out the work in a law-based, scientific and orderly manner," President Xi Jinping said while addressing a Communist Party`s Central Committee meeting.
According to Xinhua, Xi also stressed on the regulation on public health emergency response by the state officials. Xi also emphasised for timely release of the medical data to assist the epidemic prevention and control efforts.
The statement from Xi came as the number of confirmed fatalities from China's coronavirus outbreak rose to at least 560 after authorities in hardest-hit Hubei province reported 70 new deaths on Thursday.
In its daily update, the health commission in Hubei also confirmed another 2,987 new cases, putting the national total at more than 27,300, based on numbers previously issued by the central government.
The epidemic, which has spiralled into a global health emergency, is believed to have emerged in December from a market that sold wild game in Hubei's capital Wuhan.
China has been expanding its quarantine zones and travel restrictions, affecting the movement of 56 million people in more than a dozen cities, amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year.
Health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a global pandemic as the virus continues to spread, with cases reported in Australia, France, the United States and seven Asian countries besides China.
The US, Australia, and Singapore have temporarily shut their doors to non-citizens who have recently travelled to China. Vietnam has also barred all flights to and from China.
