On 25 February, at a press briefing of the State Council inter-agency task force on responding to the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, Director General of the Department of Social Development of the National Development and Reform Commission Ou Xiaoli elaborated on the principle of region-specific, targeted resumption of work and production. Under this principle, each county, with the exception of those in Hubei Province and Beijing Municipality, will be categorized as either low-risk, medium-risk or high-risk in light of its outbreak intensity.

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Low-risk regions should focus on preventing the spread of the virus into their jurisdictions?and resuming the order of production and life across the board. Competent authorities should set no conditions for enterprises to restart their operation and should not delay the process by requiring approval or filing, etc.?Medium-risk regions should curb the spread of the outbreak both within and into their jurisdictions?and resume the normal order of production and life in an orderly way as soon as possible. Efforts should be made to lower population density, reduce the concentration of people, step up protective measures, and eliminate potential risks. Epidemic control and resumption of work should be advanced in parallel.?High-risk regions should contain the spread of the outbreak both within and from their jurisdictions and keep up the tight control.?Priority should continue to be placed on epidemic containment. Only after the outbreak is brought under effective control, may these regions expand the scope of resumption of work in an orderly fashion.

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s Republic of China