Premier Li Keqiang said at a meeting on April 30 that COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control cannot be taken lightly while people enjoy the upcoming five-day May Day holiday.

It is a big challenge to the normalization of epidemic prevention and control measures, Premier Li said at the meeting of the leading group on novel coronavirus prevention and control.

This year's Labor Day holiday will see more than 100 million trips across the country, according to estimates by related departments.

It does not come easy for China, a large country of 1.4 billion people, to effectively contain the epidemic within the borders and turn epidemic control into regular work, Premier Li said.

But we must be aware of the fact that what we don’t know about the epidemic is much greater than what we do know, the Premier said, urging that related departments strengthen regular prevention and control, and consolidate achievements we have made.

During the May Day holiday, travelers around the nation will increase significantly, the Premier said. He required local authorities to be well prepared for the holiday, through further specifying and strictly carrying out prevention and control measures for vehicles, hotels, tourist attractions and individuals, to avoid risks caused by clustering travelers.

He stressed that local authorities should prepare emergency plans in advance. Once new cases are discovered, relevant authorities should take action immediately, cut off transmission routes as soon as possible, and honestly release related information to the public.

After the holiday, related departments across regions should conduct an overall assessment of the regular prevention and control during the holiday, and use what is learned to improve regular measures.