After an extension, the Spring Festival holiday will officially end when most people return to work on February 10. China on Saturday issued a circular urging local authorities and businesses to balance the resumption of work and preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus. 

The circular was issued by a special agency charged with fighting the novel coronavirus outbreak under the State Council, China's Cabinet.

It urged local authorities and related enterprises to formulate scientific and targeted measures to ensure epidemic prevention and control, protect people's lives and health and resume normal production as soon as possible.

The circular said people should return to work in batches, adding that those key fields relating to national welfare and people's livelihoods should resume production as soon as possible.

Measures should be taken to ensure the organization of transportation, the circular said, adding that public transportation facilities should effectively reduce the risk of epidemic transmission.

It also called for accelerating the coordinated operation of the whole industrial chain to solve problems such as insufficient machinery, labor and capital in a timely manner, and ensure stable supply of raw materials, auxiliary materials, important parts and components.

Efforts should also be made to improve the ability of public service support, on the basis of ensuring the protective supplies for frontline medical staff, the circular said.

(Cover: Workers produce medical N95 masks at a mask production company in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, February 8, 2020. /Xinhua Photo)