Chinese regions deemed at lowrisk from the coronavirus outbreakshould fully resume normal activities and end transport bans, an official at the state planning agency said on Tuesday.
China needed to take a more nuanced approach to control the epidemic to ensure the economic impact is minimised, Ou Xiaoli of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) told a news briefing.
"Low-risk areas ... are torestore order in production and life, cancel transport restrictions and help enterprises solve employment, raw material, funding, equipment and other difficulties," he said.
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"The current epidemicsituation is not the same everywhere," he said, adding that if control measures were not tailored to circumstances in different places, it could hurt the economic recovery.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the epidemic in China peaked between January 23 and February 2 andhas been declining since.
China on Tuesday reported a rise in new cases in Hubei province, the centre of the outbreak. But excluding those, China had just nine new infections on Monday, the lowest number since January 20.
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Ou said counties apart from Beijing and Hubei would be divided into "low-risk", "medium-risk" and "high-risk" and draw up theirproduction recovery plansaccordingly.
Low-risk areas should "completely restore work and life procedures", end all restrictions on transportation and help enterprises resolve funding and raw material problems, he said.
China's leaders have been urging regions outside the major infection zone of Hubei to do their utmost to restore the economy, and many have in recent days downgraded theiremergency response measures after reportingno new cases.
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President Xi Jinping said on Sunday the economy would take a big hit and low-risk provinces should focus on going back to work and restoring production. But high-risk areas should continue to focus on controlling the epidemic, he said.
Hubei backtracked on Monday after saying it would relax restrictions and allow healthy people toleave the province. It said the notice had been issued without authorisation and controls would remain in place.
Ou said high-risk areas must maintain "strict controls" and gradually restore economic output only after the epidemic has been effectively curbed. At the same time, they should ensure thatfirms in essential sectors continue to function normally, he said.
He Qinghua of the National Health Commission told the briefing entry-exit controls at residential compounds and tourist areas should remain in place in high-risk zones, and public gatherings still need to be restricted.