On 17 February, Li Keqiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Premier of the State Council, and head of the Central Leading Group on Responding to the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Outbreak, chaired a meeting of the leading group.

The meeting heard briefings by relevant working groups of the inter-agency task force. The briefings concluded that the all-out control efforts nationwide had lowered the epidemic peak, weakened its intensity, and staved off the wider spread of the virus. The outbreak is trending in a positive direction in the country overall, although the epidemic situation in the epicenter of Wuhan and Hubei remains fluid and complex. As work and production gradually resume in most parts of the country, local authorities must not relent in their response efforts, not even in the slightest way.

The meeting urged intensified efforts in the city of Wuhan and Hubei Province to enhance case screening, increase hospital beds, and effectively raise the admission rate and lower the infection rate. Diagnostic and therapeutic solutions should be improved and the best medical professionals pooled to treat severe cases. Clinically effective drugs should be distributed expeditiously to forestall an increase in severe cases as part of the effort to raise the cure rate and lower the case fatality rate. The protection and needs of medical workers must be ensured as a matter of priority, and appropriate rotating should be arranged. The meeting also underscored the need to strike a proper balance between epidemic control and economic and social development. While further pursuing a targeted outbreak response, work and production should be resumed in an orderly way.