Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan on Sunday highly affirmed the outstanding contribution of the frontline medical teams from other parts of the country who are aiding Hubei Province in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.

Sun, who is leading a central government team guiding the epidemic control work in Hubei Province, made her remarks in a video conference with the representatives from these medical teams.

Since the outbreak, China has dispatched more than 40,000 medical personnel within a short time to Hubei from across the country, given full play to its institutional advantages, mobilized the entire country and explored own ways to cope with the epidemic, the vice premier noted.

Noting that Chinese measures have won widespread recognition from the international community, Sun said the positive trend in preventing and controlling the epidemic is gaining momentum.

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However, she pointed out the situation in Hubei Province is still serious and complex and urged that further efforts should be made to strengthen patient treatment and optimize the allocation of medical resources.

Sun also called for the protection and care of medical workers to receive great attention and emphasized the need to provide them with daily necessities, financial subsidies and give them encouragement.

In the morning, the central government team guiding the epidemic control work also inspected the novel coronavirus epidemic prevention and control work at the Social Welfare Institution of Wuhan Qiaokou District and Wuhan Women's Prison.

(Cover: Medical staff members from Jiangsu Province work at an ICU ward of the Wuhan No. 1 Hospital in Wuhan, China. /Xinhua)