Chinese authorities on Monday called for efforts to improve care for front-line community workers in urban and rural areas in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, stressing that formalism must be avoided. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the leading group of the CPC Central Committee on the novel coronavirus prevention and control, presided over a meeting of the leading group. 

Precise and differentiated measures should be taken to curb the epidemic in different regions, a statement of the meeting said, calling on epicenter Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan to continue implementing prevention and control measures strictly and enhance the work at community levels. 

Beijing and other cities with huge migrant populations should prevent the spread of the coronavirus from other places and within themselves, it said, adding that other regions should implement prevention and control measures precisely after resuming work and restore normal production and life in an orderly way. 

Underscoring the importance of community-based epidemic prevention and control, the leading group urged local authorities to improve the living and working conditions for community workers on the front lines of the battle. It also called for avoiding formalism and practices of assigning tasks to and collecting forms from the grassroots by multiple sides repeatedly. 

Still, the leading group demanded efforts to coordinate the prevention and control measures and the spring farming.