China, as a whole country, should continue to stick to the dynamic zero-COVID policy resolutely to contain the spread of the virus, Li Bin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission, said on Friday.

The country will take a whole-of-nation approach to battle the epidemic. If some places apply flexible policies, it may cause quick local transmissions of the virus and even lead to cross-regional transmission, threatening people's lives and causing great losses to the social economic development, he said at a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office.

Li made the remarks in response to a media question that since China is a big country and different regions have different conditions, the dynamic zero-COVID policy should be adapted to the specific situation of different regions.

"Only by persisting in the dynamic clearance policy and keeping the local epidemic under control can all localities win the overall victory of epidemic prevention and control," he said.

However, under the premise of abiding by the dynamic clearance policy, different regions are encouraged to explore more targeted measures to contain the virus at minimum cost, Li added.

The Chinese mainland reported more than 550,000 local COVID-19 infections in all provincial level regions except the Tibet autonomous region, so far this month, official data shows.