BEIJING: China promptly strengthened legislation and law enforcement to provide solid legal guarantees in the fight against COVID-19 after its initial outbreak, officials said at a news conference.
After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress formulated a work plan to strengthen legal protection for public health and revise the law, and made important progress and good results, said Xu Anbiao, deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of NPC Standing Committee.
A number of important laws were enacted, revised and introduced, he said. The Biosecurity Law, which was approved by the NPC Standing Committee in October 2020 and took effect in April last year, improved the system for the prevention and control of biosecurity risks, including covering major new infectious diseases, and outbreaks in animals and plants. The NPC Standing Committee also adopted the decision on banning the wildlife trade in February 2020 and revised the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law in January 2021. Public health covers a wide range of areas, and so targeted provisions have been made in the formulation and revision of other relevant laws, Xu said. He said that several important draft laws including amendments to the Law on Emergency Response and Management, the Law on Wildlife Protection, and the Law on Animal Husbandry, have been submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for deliberation.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
