The National Health Commission has organized teams of 959 medical workers from seven provinces and cities to head to Wuhan, epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Hubei, to prevent and contain infections, the commission said at a media conference on Monday.

The teams are from Henan, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, and the municipalities of Tianjin and Chongqing. More medical teams are preparing to go to Wuhan, according to the commission.

It also sent seven steering groups to Beijing, Hebei, Shanghai, Henan, Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan to supervise the operation of administrative systems, to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The steering groups will focus on checking the work of epidemic monitoring, medical treatment, epidemic prevention and control by communities and grassroots medical institutions, the commission said.

Ma Xiaowei, minister of the National Health Commission, said on Sunday that an additional 12 teams of more than 1,600 medical staff will be sent to areas hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province, and authorities are also coordinating supplies urgently needed to control the outbreak.