BEIJING — Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan has stressed the preparation for COVID-19 prevention and control in autumn and winter to resolutely prevent an epidemic resurgence.

Sun made the remarks on July 31 at a teleconference of the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19.

Despite the effective control China has gained over the epidemic, the current risks still cannot be underestimated, as clusters of COVID-19 cases have occurred in some places, Sun said.

She called on local authorities to unremittingly work on control of both imported and domestic cases, and strictly guard against the occurrence of clusters of cases.

Sun also called for efforts to improve the command system for epidemic prevention and control, strengthen epidemic tests at customs, enhance the quality of emergency response, and maintain strict management of quarantine venues.