BEIJING - China's top legislature will conduct a round of inspections on the implementation of the law on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, in eight provincial-level regions.

The National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee announced the inspections, which will run until mid-June, at a meeting in Beijing on Thursday. The law was enacted in 1989 and revised in 2004 and 2013.

Wang Chen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the 13th NPC, stressed the importance of carrying out the Healthy China initiative, noting that the inspection tour aimed to strengthen law enforcement and safeguard people's health and security.

A total of 19,796 people died from infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in 2017, according to the former National Health and Family Planning Commission.