A staff member reminds foreigners to fill in an arrival card at Qingdao Liuting International Airport in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, March 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

A leading group of China's COVID-19 called for efforts to further promote international joint prevention and control, stressing better data sharing, border quarantine and other virus prevention work.

BEIJING, March 12  -- A leading group of China's COVID-19 response Thursday called for more targeted prevention measures to stem the cross-border spread of the novel coronavirus and promised help for overseas fight against the pandemic.

The group, led by Premier Li Keqiang, called for efforts to closely follow the overseas situation of the pandemic, and to take into consideration the latest assessment made by the World Health Organization and international practice, according to a meeting of the group held Thursday.

More precise and targeted measures should be taken to guard against import and export of cases of infection, according to the meeting, which was presided over by Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The group called for efforts to further promote international joint prevention and control, stressing better data sharing, border quarantine and other virus prevention work.