Medical team members of the Second Hospital of Shangdong University swear an oath before leaving for Hubei Province in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, February 9, 2020. Medical teams from across China have been rushing to Hubei Province to aid the novel coronavirus control efforts there. [Xinhua/Zhu Zheng]

BEIJING, February 10 (Xinhua) — Chinese authorities Monday stressed further increasing the production and supply of key medical prevention and control materials, strengthening the deployment of medics and developing drugs against the novel coronavirus.

Concrete measures should be taken to accept and cure more patients infected with the virus and reduce the infection and mortality rate, according to a high-level meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The meeting of the leading group of the CPC Central Committee on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, which is headed by Li, ordered local authorities to encourage enterprises to increase production of medical supplies such as medical protective clothing and masks, by providing fiscal, taxation and financial policies and policies for government purchase and storage and helping solve the problem of raw materials and labor shortage.

Noting some 20,000 medical staff from across the country have been sent to Hubei Province to treat patients, the meeting asked 19 other provinces to further step up medical staff assistance to Hubei while ensuring their local virus control.

The meeting also stressed pooling strength to develop anti-virus medicines and vaccines and advance research on virus traceability and transmission, among others.

Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, concrete and effective efforts should be made to resolutely win the war of epidemic prevention and control, the meeting said.

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.

(Source: Xinhua)