Lei Haichao, vice-minister of the National Health Commission (NHC), paid a visit to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region from Nov 14 to 16 to inspect the region's COVID-19 prevention and treatment efforts. 

He noted that scientific, accurate and effective measures should be taken to combat the virus, with epidemic prevention as the major task. 

It is of great necessity to enhance the leadership of the working group of the COVID-19 epidemic control and to construct larger capacity of the health system to ensure that no serious epidemic occurs in winter and spring, he said. 

During his stay in Xinjiang, Lei visited the city of Artux , Wuqia county and the region's capital city Urumqi. He inspected neighborhoods, isolation sites, centers for disease control and prevention, township-level healthcare centers, community healthcare centers, nucleic acid sampling testing sites, border ports, designated hospitals and the National Emergency Rescue Team.

He expressed his sincere solicitude to the grassroots personnel in charge of epidemic prevention and control and had talks with frontline medical experts.

He stressed that attention should be paid to scientific and standard quarantine for medical observation, nucleic acid testing, community management, preventive sterilization and medical treatment. 

He added that it is important to give full play to the dual role of traditional Chinese medicine in COVID-19 prevention and treatment, which is beneficial to the recovery of patients.

Lei also urged quickening the construction of the regional medical center in south Xinjiang , and underlined the significance of enriching talent resources in the centers for disease control and prevention and the primary-level healthcare centers and of improving working conditions. 

He said that great efforts should be made to accelerate epidemiological investigation and virus traceability and to improve capacity building for response to health emergencies. 

He also highlighted a commitment to patriotic public health campaigns and national health education to improve health literacy, and proposed building a sensitive, efficient and powerful public health system.

Yan Shujiang, deputy director of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and officials from the related departments of the NHC participated in the inspection.