A community staff member measures body temperature of a resident in Dadongmen community in Wuchang district of Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, Feb 9, 2020. (CHENG MIN / XINHUA)

BEIJING - The measures on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak have been taken in accordance with the law, according to healthcare experts.

The National Health Commission (NHC) has classified the novel coronavirus pneumonia as a category B infectious disease under the law on prevention and control of infectious diseases, which was first enacted in 1989 and revised in 2004 and 2013.

It also decided to take preventive and control measures of category A infectious diseases upon approval from the State Council, following the procedure prescribed in the same law.

The decision by the National Health Commission to upgrade the level of prevention and control measures was crucial in containing the spread of the epidemic, according to Li Xingwang, a member of the national medical expert team and a leading expert on infectious disease

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When dealing with a category A disease, medical institutions are authorized to treat patients and pathogen carriers in isolation, give separate isolation treatment to suspected patients in designated places and implement medical observation and other necessary preventive measures on their close contacts.

China classifies infectious diseases into three categories, with plague and cholera listed as category A infectious diseases, and SARS, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases classified as category B diseases.

The decision to launch preventive and control measures of category A was crucial in containing the spread of the epidemic, according to Li Xingwang, a member of the national medical expert team and a leading expert on infectious disease.

Li noted that category A diseases require faster reporting and stronger isolation measures.

NHC officials have also explained that upgrading the prevention and control measures to category A was based on the fact that the novel coronavirus is a newly discovered pathogen, the transmission and virulence of which need further observation.

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Experts also reminded the public of the legal obligations of everyone to cooperate with public authorities' epidemic prevention and control measures.

For example, the law stipulates that entities and individuals in the country should accept investigations, inspections, sample collection and isolation treatment of infectious diseases by disease prevention and control institutions and medical institutions and truthfully provide relevant information.

In the meantime, disease prevention and control institutions and medical institutions are prohibited from disclosing information involving patients' privacy.