BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A new law was adopted by Chinese lawmakers on Friday to regulate the response to public health emergencies and enhance the country's capacity to address such situations.

The law on public health emergency response, adopted at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, proposed the establishment and improvement of a nationwide public health emergency reporting system.

The law requires medical institutions and on-duty staff to report actual or potential public health emergencies through the online direct reporting system within two hours. Individuals or groups should also report such cases immediately to local authorities or disease control agencies, and those whose reports are later found not to be a public health emergency will not face legal liability.

After a public health emergency occurs, the county-level government where it takes place must report to the higher-level government and may, if necessary, report directly to an even higher authority, according to the law.

"These provisions encourage proactive reporting and help establish a system of 'early detection and early reporting'," said Wang Yue, a medical ethics and law professor at Peking University's School of Health Humanities.

Improving the reporting system is one of the purposes of the law. According to the explanatory notes of the drafting of the law, while China's existing legal framework has played an important role in responding effectively to public health emergencies, it still has weaknesses in areas such as monitoring and early warning, emergency response, and institutional coordination. The law is intended to address these shortcomings and strengthen legal protections for public health.

To strengthen monitoring and early warning systems for public health emergencies, the law calls for closer interdepartmental and inter-regional coordination and information sharing.

Across China, local health authorities are partnering with other agencies to improve monitoring efforts. In central China's Henan Province, for example, the local meteorological bureau is working with the disease control agency to develop a shared database that tracks climate change and its impact on health, and to jointly issue health risk alerts and advisories.

"The new law promotes interdepartmental data sharing, integrating sources such as hospital electronic medical records, pharmacy sales data, customs quarantine records, and temperature and humidity readings from environmental monitoring stations," Wang said, noting that these data provide important clues for tracing, preventing and controlling public health emergencies.

The law supports and encourages the use of modern information technology and other advanced technologies in responding to public health emergencies. Meanwhile, necessary measures must be taken to protect personal information and privacy.

After a public health emergency has been addressed, any personal information collected for response purposes must be promptly deleted, according to the law.

The law, consisting of 65 articles in eight chapters, will take effect on Nov. 1, 2025. ■