Chapter III Prevention and Control of Outbreak of Major Emerging Infectious Diseases, Animal and Plant Epidemics

Article 27  The competent departments of health, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, customs and ecological environment of the State Council shall establish the networks monitoring major emerging infectious diseases, animal and plant epidemics, entry and exit quarantine, and biotechnological environmental safety, organize layout and construction of monitoring sites, establish and improve the monitoring and information reporting system, actively carry out monitoring and pathogen testing, and incorporate the aforementioned monitoring networks into the national biosecurity risk monitoring and alert system.

Article 28  Disease prevention and control institutions, animal disease epidemic prevention and control institutions, and plant disease and pest prevention and control agencies (hereinafter collectively referred to as specialized institutions) shall carry out active monitoring of infectious diseases, animal and plant epidemics and diseases of unknown causes included in the monitoring scope, collect, analyze and report  information obtained during monitoring, and predict the occurrence and trends of emerging infectious diseases as well as animal and plant epidemics.

Relevant departments of the State Council, and local people's government at or above the county level and their relevant departments shall issue early warnings based on forecasts in a timely manner according to their respective duties, and take corresponding prevention and control measures.

Article 29   Any entity or individual that discovers an infectious disease, or an animal or a plant epidemic shall promptly report to a medical institution or a relevant specialized institution or department.

A medical institution, specialized institution or any of its staff member that discovers an infectious disease, an animal or a plant epidemic, or a disease cluster of unknown causes, shall promptly report it and take protective measures.

No entity or individual may conceal what is required to be reported under the law, or make a false report, delay or omit a report on it, or instruct others to conceal it, or make a false report, delay or omit a report on it, or obstruct others from reporting it.

Article 30  The state shall establish joint prevention and control mechanisms against the outbreak of major emerging infectious diseases and animal and plant epidemics.

In the event of the outbreak of a major emerging infectious disease, or an animal or a plant epidemic, control measures shall be taken in a timely manner in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and emergency response plans; the competent departments of the State Council of health, agriculture and rural affairs, and forestry and grassland shall immediately organize a meeting to discuss and assess the epidemic situation, submit conclusions thereon to the central leading body of national security and the State Council, and notify other member entities of the National Biosecurity Work Coordination Mechanism and other relevant departments of the State Council.

In the event of the outbreak of a major emerging infectious disease, or an animal or a plant epidemic, local people's governments at all levels shall uniformly perform the duties of epidemic prevention and control within their administrative regions, strengthen organization and leadership, implement epidemic prevention and control by involving the efforts of the public, provide medical treatment, mobilize and encourage various sectors of the society to participate in epidemic prevention and control in an orderly manner in accordance with law.

Article 31  The state enhances the overall capacity building in prevention of and control over infectious diseases and animal and plant epidemics at borders and ports, and establish an international cooperation network for prevention of and control over infectious diseases and animal and plant epidemics, so as to detect and control the outbreak of major infectious diseases and animal and plant epidemics as early as possible.

Article 32  The state protects wild animals, strengthens the prevention of animal diseases, and prevents the spread of animal-borne infectious diseases.

Article 33  The state strengthens the management of the use of antimicrobial drugs such as antibiotics and their residues, and supports fundamental researches and researches tackling key scientific and technological problems concerning microbial resistance.

Competent departments of health of the people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the guidance for and supervision of rational use of drugs by medical institutions, and take measures to prevent irrational use of antimicrobial drugs. The competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs and those of forestry and grassland of the people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the guidance for and supervision of rational use of agricultural chemicals in agricultural production, take measures to prevent irrational use of antimicrobial chemicals and reduce their residues in the environments for agricultural production.

The competent departments of health, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, and ecological environment of the State Council, and the department for medical products administration of the State Council shall assess the harm of the residues of antimicrobial chemicals to human health and the environment according to the division of duties, and establish a system for evaluating pollutant indicators of antimicrobial chemicals.