As the outbreak has been mainly reported overseas, Li said the most important work at present was to strictly check on border entry, step up technical equipment and material storage, arrange designated hospitals and be well prepared for emergencies.

He stressed the role of science in combating the disease, urging "beefed-up scientific research, analysis and decision-making" and strengthened cooperation with the World Health Organization and foreign countries.

Information transparency was of key importance to the scientific epidemic prevention and control, he said, calling for further improvement in information publicity.

"Infections within our border must be immediately publicized, and the prevention and control work must be transparent," he said.

He also called for the promotion of a scientific understanding of the disease to ward off public panic, and urged mass involvement in the prevention and control.

In another development, the health ministry said Monday China had listed A/H1N1 under the category of infectious diseases that warranted quarantine, and would quarantine people and material crossing China's borders that were suspected of transmitting the virus.

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Editor:Yang Jie