Law on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases (2025 Revision)

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China
(No. 47)

The Law on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, as revised and adopted at the 15th session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on April 30, 2025, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on September 1, 2025.

Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
April 30, 2025

Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases
(Adopted at the 6th session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on February 21, 1989, revised for the first time at the 11th session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on August 28, 2004, amended according to the Decision on Amending the Cultural Relics Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and Other Eleven Laws as adopted at the 3rd Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on June 29, 2013, and revised for the second time at the 15th session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress on April 30, 2025)

Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Prevention
Chapter III Monitoring, Reporting and Early Warning
Chapter IV Control of the Epidemic Situation
Chapter V Medical Treatment
Chapter VI Guarantee Measures
Chapter VII Supervision and Administration
Chapter VIII Legal Liability
Chapter IX Supplemental Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purposes of preventing, controlling and eliminating the occurrence and prevalence of infectious diseases, safeguarding public life and health, preventing and resolving public health risks, and maintaining national security and social stability.
Article 2 The prevention and control of infectious diseases shall adhere to the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the supremacy of the people and supremacy of life, the principle of focusing on prevention and combining prevention and control, and the principle of law-based and scientific prevention and control.
Article 3 Infectious diseases as mentioned in this Law are divided into Class A infectious diseases, Class B infectious diseases, and Class C infectious diseases, as well as infectious diseases of unknown causes and other infectious diseases.
Class A infectious diseases refer to infectious diseases that are particularly harmful to human health and life safety, may cause major economic losses and social impacts, and require special strict management and control of the spread of infectious diseases, including plague and cholera.
Class B infectious diseases refer to infectious diseases that are seriously harmful to human health and life safety, may cause relatively large economic losses and social impact, and need to be strictly managed to reduce the incidence rate and harm, including COVID-19 infection, SARS, AIDS, viral hepatitis, poliomyelitis, human-infected new subtypes of influenza, measles, epidemic hemorrhagic fever, rabies, epidemic encephalitis B, dengue fever, monkeypox, anthrax, bacillary and amebic dysentery, pulmonary tuberculosis, typhoid and paratyphoid fever, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, pertussis, diphtheria, neonatal tetanus, scarlet fever, brucellosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, leptospirosis, schistosomiasis, and malaria.
Class C infectious diseases refer to common and frequent infectious diseases that cause harm to human health and life safety and may cause economic losses and social impact to a certain extent, and for which attention shall be paid to the epidemic tendency and control of the outbreak and prevalence, including influenza, mumps, rubella, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, lepriasis, epidemic and endemic typhus, kala-azar, echinococcosis, filariasis, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and infectious diarrhoeal diseases other than cholera, bacillary and amebic dysentery, and typhoid and paratyphoid fever.
The disease control and prevention department of the State Council shall put forward suggestions for adjusting the list of various infectious diseases in a timely manner in the light of the outbreak, prevalence and degree of harm of infectious diseases. The adjustments to the list of Class A infectious diseases shall be reported by the appropriate health department of the State Council to the State Council for approval and then published; and the adjustments to the lists of Class B and Class C infectious diseases shall be approved and announced by the appropriate health department of the State Council.
Article 4 In the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease of unknown cause that requires the prevention and control measures for Class A infectious diseases as provided for in this Law, the disease control and prevention department of the State Council shall put forward recommendations in a timely manner, which shall be reported by the appropriate health department of the State Council to the State Council for approval and then published.
Measures for prevention and control of Class A infectious diseases as provided for in this Law shall be adopted for infectious atypical pneumonia in Class B infectious diseases and pulmonary anthrax in anthrax. Other Class B infectious diseases for which measures for prevention and control of Class A infectious diseases as provided for in this Law need to be adopted shall be approved and announced under the procedures as prescribed in the preceding paragraph.
Where the measures for prevention and control of Class A infectious diseases adopted in accordance with the provisions of this article need to be terminated, the disease control and prevention department of the State Council shall put forward recommendations in a timely manner, which shall be reported by the appropriate health department of the State Council to the State Council for approval and then published.
Infectious diseases for which measures for prevention and control of Class A infectious diseases adopted in accordance with the provisions of this Law shall be governed by the provisions of this Law concerning Class A infectious diseases.
Article 5 The people's governments at the provincial level may, in the light of the circumstances, decide to administer other infectious diseases commonly and frequently occurring within their administrative regions as Class B or Class C infectious diseases, make an announcement and report to the disease control and prevention department of the State Council for recordation.
Article 6 The state shall establish and improve the system and mechanism for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, specify the responsibilities of localities, departments, entities and individuals, and implement joint prevention and control and mass prevention and control.
Article 7 The people's governments at all levels shall strengthen leadership in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
The people's governments at or above the county level shall establish and improve disease prevention and control, medical treatment, emergency response, material support, supervision and management systems for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, and strengthen capacity building for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Article 8 The appropriate health department of the State Council shall take the lead in organizing and coordinating the response to the epidemic situation of infectious diseases across the country, and be responsible for the organization and guidance of medical treatment for infectious diseases nationwide. The disease control and prevention department of the State Council shall be responsible for the organization and guidance of the prevention and control of infectious diseases and the relevant work of response to the epidemic situation of infectious diseases across the country. Other relevant departments of the State Council shall be responsible for the work concerning prevention and treatment of infectious diseases within the scope of their respective functions and duties.
The appropriate health departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall take the lead in organizing and coordinating the response to the epidemic situation of infectious diseases in the respective administrative regions, and be responsible for the organization and guidance of medical treatment for infectious diseases in the respective administrative regions. The disease control and prevention departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the organization and guidance of the prevention and control of infectious diseases in the respective administrative regions and for the relevant work of response to the epidemic situation of infectious diseases in the respective administrative regions. Other relevant departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the work concerning prevention and treatment of infectious diseases within the scope of their respective functions and duties.
The prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the Chinese People's Armed Police Force shall be handled in accordance with this Law and the relevant provisions of the Central Military Commission, and be supervised and administered by the department responsible for the health work of the Central Military Commission.
Article 9 Joint consultation, study and judgment of the epidemic situation shall be carried out for the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council and local people's governments at or above the county level for major infectious diseases, and the epidemic prevention and control work shall be organized, coordinated, and promoted.
Where the epidemic situation of a major infectious disease occurs and constitutes a public health event, the State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level shall establish an emergency command institution and initiate emergency response in accordance with the provisions of the laws and administrative regulations on responding to public health emergencies.
Article 10 The state shall establish and improve a disease prevention and control network featuring urban and rural integration, interaction between upper and lower levels, and complete functions.
The disease control and prevention department of the State Council shall lead the work of disease control and prevention institutions at all levels, and establish a mechanism for division of labor and collaboration featuring interaction between upper and lower levels.
National and provincial disease control and prevention institutions shall set up expert committees for disease prevention and control to provide professional and technical support for the prevention and control of infectious diseases such as consultation, evaluation, and demonstration.
Article 11 The state shall attach equal importance to traditional Chinese and Western medicine, strengthen the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and fully maximize the role of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Article 12 The state shall support and encourage scientific research on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, organize research on the prevention and control of infectious diseases and public health, make interdisciplinary joint efforts to tackle key problems, and raise the level of science and technology in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Article 13 The state shall support and encourage the application of modern information technology in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
To carry out collection, storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, disclosure, deletion and other personal information processing activities in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, the provisions of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and administrative regulations shall be complied with, measures shall be adopted to ensure the security of personal information, personal privacy shall be protected, and personal information shall not be collected excessively; and relevant information shall not be used for any purpose other than prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Article 14 All entities and individuals within the territory of the People's Republic of China shall support the prevention and control of infectious diseases, accept and cooperate with the investigation, collection of specimen, inspection and testing, treatment in isolation, medical observation and other measures adopted in accordance with the law to prevent, control and eliminate the harm of infectious diseases, and adopt necessary protective measures according to the needs of the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
The state shall support and encourage entities and individuals in participating in the work of preventing and treating infectious diseases. The people's governments at all levels shall improve relevant systems, provide facilitation measures, and guide entities and individuals to participate in activities such as publicity and education, epidemic reporting, voluntary service and donation for the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Article 15 Disease control and prevention departments, sub-district offices and township people's governments shall carry out mass prevention and control work, and guide residents' committees and villagers' committees to assist urban and rural communities in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Residents' committees and villagers' committees shall assist the people's governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments, sub-district offices, and township people's governments in effectively conducting publicity, education and health warnings on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, and prevention and control of epidemic situation, and organize urban and rural residents to participate in the prevention and control activities for infectious diseases in urban and rural communities.
The people's governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments, sub-district offices towns, and township people's governments shall provide necessary support and guarantee for the residents' and villagers' committees to carry out the work of prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Article 16 The state and society shall care for and help patients of infectious diseases, pathogen carriers and suspected patients, to make them receive timely treatment.
No entity or individual may discriminate against patients of infectious diseases, pathogen carriers or suspected patients, or disclose personal privacy or personal information.
Article 17 The measures for the prevention and control of infectious diseases shall be adopted in accordance with legal authority and procedures, and be commensurate with the outbreak and prevalence of infectious diseases and the extent and scope of possible harm; and where there are a variety of optional measures, measures that are conducive to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of entities and individuals to the greatest extent and have relatively small impact on others' rights and interests and production and life shall be selected, and adjustments shall be made in a timely manner in light of changes in the situation.
If entities or individuals believe that the relevant administrative actions or infectious disease prevention and control measures implemented by the local people's governments, health administrative departments, disease control and prevention departments and other relevant departments, as well as disease control and prevention institutions and medical institutions, among others, have infringed upon their legitimate rights and interests, they may apply for administrative reconsideration or institute an action according to the law.
Article 18 The state shall carry out health education on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, strengthen publicity on the rule of law for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, and improve the public's health literacy and awareness of the rule of law for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Schools and nursery institutions shall, in consideration of the age characteristics, educate students and children about health knowledge and the knowledge on prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
The news media shall carry out public publicity on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and public health knowledge.
Individuals shall learn the knowledge on prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, develop good sanitation habits, and develop a healthy lifestyle.
Article 19 The state shall support and encourage international exchanges and cooperation in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Article 20 Entities and individuals that have made outstanding achievements and contributions to the prevention and control of infectious diseases shall be commended and rewarded in accordance with the relevant rules of the state.
Persons who become ill, are disabled or die due to participation in the prevention and control of infectious diseases shall be given subsidies, pensions and preferential treatment in accordance with the relevant provisions.
Chapter II Prevention
Article 21 The people's governments at all levels shall organize and carry out patriotic health campaigns, improve the public health facilities, improve living conditions, strengthen social health management, and raise the health level of the whole people.
Article 22 The local people's governments at all levels shall build and renovate urban and rural public health facilities in a planned way, improve the sanitary conditions of drinking water, and carry out harmless disposal of sewage, dirt and feces. Cities shall, in accordance with the relevant national and local standards, build public toilets, harmless disposal sites for garbage and feces, drainage and sewage treatment systems and other public sanitation facilities. Rural areas shall gradually renovate their toilets and establish necessary health management systems.
The local people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the capacity building of medical waste collection and disposal. The people's governments at the districted city level shall determine the facilities for collaborative emergency treatment of medical wastes and improve the emergency treatment capacity of medical waste in case of major epidemic situation of infectious diseases.
Article 23 The departments of agriculture and rural affairs, water conservancy, forestry and grassland of the people's governments at or above the county level shall guide, organize, control and eliminate the hazards of rats and schistosomiasis, as well as the hazards of other animals and vectors that spread infectious diseases in farmlands, lakes, rivers, pastures, forest areas and grasslands according to their functions and duties.
The departments of transport, railway and civil aviation guide and supervise transport operation entities and operation entities of stations, ports, airports and other relevant premises to eliminate the hazards of rats, mosquitoes, flies and other disease vectors according to their functions and duties.
Article 24 The state shall implement the rules for immunization programs. The government shall provide vaccines under immunization programs for residents free of charge.
The disease control and prevention department of the State Council develop national immunization programs. When implementing national immunization programs, the people's governments at the provincial level may, in accordance with the needs of disease prevention and control in their respective administrative regions, increase the types of vaccines under the immunization programs, strengthen preventive vaccination in key areas and of key populations, and report to the disease control and prevention department of the State Council for recordation and make an announcement.
The state shall implement a vaccination certificate system for children. Medical institutions, disease control and prevention institutions and children's guardians, schools and nursery institutions shall cooperate with each other to ensure that children receive immunization vaccines in a timely manner under the immunization programs.
In the event of a particularly major public health emergency or other emergencies that seriously threaten public health, vaccines may be used urgently within a certain range and within a certain period in accordance with the provisions of the Vaccine Administration Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 25 Disease control and prevention institutions at all levels shall perform the following functions and duties in the prevention and control of infectious diseases:
(1) Implementing plans for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, developing technical plans for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, and organizing implementation thereof.
(2) Organizing monitoring of infectious diseases, collecting, analyzing and reporting the information on monitoring of infectious diseases, and forecasting the outbreak and epidemic tendency of infectious diseases.
(3) Conducting epidemiological investigation, risk assessment, on-site treatment and effectiveness evaluation of the epidemic situation of infectious diseases and public health emergencies.
(4) Conducting laboratory inspection testing of infectious diseases and making diagnosis and etiological appraisal.
(5) Implementing immunization programs and being responsible for control of the use of preventive biological products.
(6) Conducting education and providing consultancy on health and disseminating knowledge about prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
(7) Guiding and training disease control and prevention institutions at lower levels and their staff members to prevent and control infectious diseases.
(8) Guiding medical institutions, schools, nursery institutions, elderly care institutions, rehabilitation institutions, welfare institutions, relief and protection institutions for minors, rescue management institutions, sports venues, places of supervision, stations, ports, airports and other key premises to carry out prevention and control of infectious diseases.
(9) Carrying out basic research, applied research and health evaluation on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, and providing technical consultation.
National and provincial disease control and prevention institutions shall be mainly responsible for monitoring the occurrence, prevalence and distribution of infectious diseases, forecasting the epidemic tendency of key infectious diseases, proposing preventive and control countermeasures, participating in and guiding the investigation and handling of the epidemic situation of infectious diseases, carrying out pathogen identification of infectious diseases, establishing inspection and testing quality control systems, and carrying out basic research, applied research, health evaluation and standard development.
Disease control and prevention institutions at the districted city level and county level shall be mainly responsible for the implementation of the plans for prevention and control of infectious diseases and technical plans for prevention and control, organizing immunization and disinfection, guiding control of vector hazards, and popularizing the knowledge on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, and be responsible for monitoring and reporting of infectious diseases and public health emergencies in their respective regions, carrying out epidemiological investigations and detection of common pathogenic microorganisms, and conducting applied research and health evaluation.
Article 26 Medical institutions at or above level II shall have special departments and designate special personnel to undertake their prevention and control of infectious diseases, reporting of the epidemic situation of infectious diseases, and prevention of infectious diseases within the responsible areas.
Grassroots medical and health institutions shall have special departments or designate personnel to be responsible for the prevention, control and management of infectious diseases, and under the guidance of disease control and prevention institutions, undertake their prevention and control of infectious diseases, health education on prevention and control of infectious diseases, vaccination, reporting of the epidemic situation of infectious diseases, and health monitoring of patients with infectious diseases in responsible areas, and guidance for the prevention and control of infectious diseases in urban and rural communities.
Article 27 The basic standards, architectural design and service processes of medical institutions shall satisfy the requirements for preventing infection in medical institutions and reduce the risk of infectious diseases spread in medical institutions.
Medical institutions shall strictly implement the management system and operation norms stipulated by the state, and strengthen the monitoring of risk factors related to infection, safety protection, disinfection, isolation and disposal of medical waste and medical sewage in medical institutions, to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in medical institutions.
Medical institutions shall disinfect or sterilize the medical devices used in accordance with the provisions; and disposable medical devices used in accordance with the provisions shall be destroyed after use.
Article 28 The disease control and prevention department of the State Council shall develop emergency plans for the prevention and control of key infectious diseases and sudden infectious diseases of unknown causes. These plans shall be approved and published by the health administrative department of the State Council.
The local people's governments at or above the county level shall develop contingency plans for prevention and control of key infectious diseases and sudden infectious diseases of unknown causes in their respective administrative regions, report to the people's governments at the next higher levels for recordation and make an announcement. The local people's governments in neighboring or nearby areas shall be encouraged to develop contingency plans for joint prevention and control of regional infectious diseases.
Contingency plans for the prevention and control of infectious diseases shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other relevant laws and regulations, and in light of the outbreak, prevalence and harm degree of infectious diseases, specify the organization and command system and responsibilities for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, prevention and monitoring of infectious diseases, epidemic reporting and notification, epidemic risk assessment, early warning, emergency response work plan, personnel mobilization, and reserve and utilization of materials and technologies, among others.
Article 29 Medical health institutions, schools, nursery institutions, elderly care institutions, rehabilitation institutions, welfare institutions, relief and protection institutions for minors, rescue management institutions, sports venues, places of supervision, stations, ports, airports and other key premises shall develop their contingency plans for the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Article 30 The contingency plans for the prevention and control of infectious diseases shall be made more scientific, targeted and operational, and revised in a timely manner according to the actual needs and changes in the situation.
The disease control and prevention departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall organize and carry out drills in accordance with the contingency plans for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Medical health institutions, schools, nursery institutions, elderly care institutions, rehabilitation institutions, welfare institutions, relief and protection institutions for minors, rescue management institutions, sports venues, places of supervision, stations, ports, airports and other key premises shall carry out drills in accordance with their contingency plans for the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Article 31 The laboratories of disease control and prevention institutions and medical institutions and entities engaged in pathogenic microorganism experiments shall abide by the provisions of laws and administrative regulations concerning the biosafety of pathogenic microorganism laboratories, meet the conditions and technical standards prescribed by the state, establish a strict management system, strictly manage the pathogens and specimens of infectious diseases in accordance with the prescribed measures, and strictly prevent the laboratory infection and spread of infectious disease pathogens.
Article 32 Blood collectors and suppliers and manufacturers of biological products shall, in strict accordance with the relevant regulations of the state, guarantee the quality and safety of blood and blood products.
Illegal collection of blood and organizing other persons to sell their blood shall be prohibited.　When using blood or blood products, disease control and prevention institutions and medical institutions shall, in compliance with the relevant regulations of the state, prevent blood-borne transmission via blood transfusion or use of blood products.
Article 33 The people's governments at all levels shall strengthen the prevention and treatment of AIDS and adopt preventive and control measures to prevent the spread of AIDS. The specific measures shall be developed by the State Council.
Article 34 The state shall establish and improve the cooperation mechanism for the prevention and treatment of anthropozoonosis, make overall planning and promote the prevention and control work in a coordinated manner, and effectively complete health education for key groups, monitoring of infectious diseases, epidemic investigation and handling, information notification, and other work.
The departments of agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, public health, and disease prevention and control of the people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the management of prevention and control of animal-borne diseases related to anthropozoonosis according to their functions and duties, with special emphasis on the prevention and control of anthropozoonosis such as plague, rabies, human-infected new subtypes of influenza, brucellosis, anthrax, schistosomiasis, and echinococcosis.
Article 35 The state shall establish a repository for pathogenic microbial bacteria (viruses).
The collection, storage, provision, carrying, transportation, and use of pathogenic microorganisms (viruses) and infectious disease testing specimens shall be subject to classified management, and a strict and sound management system shall be established. The relevant activities shall comply with the provisions of the relevant laws and administrative regulations on the biosafety of pathogenic microorganism laboratories; and where approval or recordation is required according to the law, approval shall be obtained or recordation formalities shall be undergone.
Article 36 With respect to water, articles and places contaminated by pathogens of infectious diseases, relevant entities and individuals shall, under the guidance of disease control and prevention institutions or in accordance with their sanitation requirements, conduct scientific and strict disinfection treatment; and where disinfection treatment is rejected, the local disease control and prevention departments shall organize compulsory disinfection.
Article 37 Where plans are made for such large construction projects as water conservancy, communications, tourism and energy in an area of a natural focus of infection confirmed by the state, sanitary investigation of the construction environment shall, in advance, be conducted by the disease control and prevention institutions at or above the provincial level. Construction entities shall, in accordance with the opinions of the disease control and prevention institutions, adopt necessary measures for prevention and control of infectious diseases. During the period of construction, construction entities shall assign special persons to take charge of the sanitation and anti-epidemic work at the construction site. During the period of construction and after completion of the construction project, the disease control and prevention institutions shall monitor the possible occurrence of infectious diseases.
Article 38 Disinfectant products used for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, drinking water provided by drinking water suppliers and products involving sanitary safety of drinking water shall comply with the sanitary standards and specifications of the state.
An enterprise producing disinfection products for the prevention and control of infectious diseases shall be approved by the disease control and prevention department of the people's government at the provincial level and obtain a sanitation license. Disinfectants and disinfection instruments produced by using new materials, new technical skills and new bactericidal principles shall be approved by the disease control and prevention department of the State Council and obtain sanitation licenses; and other disinfectants, disinfection instruments and anti-bacteriostatic agents shall be reported to the disease control and prevention departments of the provincial people's governments for recordation.
Drinking water supply entities shall be approved by the disease control and prevention departments of the people's governments at the districted city level or the county level and obtain sanitation licenses. Products involving drinking water sanitation and safety shall be approved by the ......