As flu season approaches, the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly issued a notice to ask health authorities at all levels to step up monitoring and report on critical and severely critical flu cases and pool critical patients to qualified hospitals for treatment.

Health authorities at all levels should pool critical patients, medical experts and resources in qualified hospitals to give them proper treatment to prevent occurrences of critical and severely critical flu cases and reduce mortality rates.

Health authorities at all levels are also asked to closely follow the development of vaccines, forecast medical demands and stay prepared for regional flu breakouts and sharp rises in the number of patients.

Special attention should also be given to seniors, children, pregnant women and patients with chronic diseases.

In the treatment of flu, the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine shall be given full play, the notice read. Treatment measures shall be designed by targeting signs and symptoms with early application of TCM to improve clinical efficacy.