On 25 February, at a press briefing of the State Council inter-agency task force on responding to the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, Director General of the Department of Social Development of the National Development and Reform Commission Ou Xiaoli elaborated on the principle of region-specific, targeted resumption of work and production. Under this principle, each county, with the exception of those in Hubei Province and Beijing Municipality, will be categorized as either low-risk, medium-risk or high-risk in light of its outbreak intensity.