Beijing banned all kinds of group catering activities to further prevent and control the spread of the novel coronavirus, a senior official in the capital said on Wednesday.

Anyone who organized or undertook group dinners, whether individually or through organizations, needs to cancel those gatherings or postpone the date to hold activities, said Chen Yankai, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Market Regulation Bureau, at a press conference held in Beijing on Wednesday.

Organizers in rural areas of Beijing that undertook group catering are forbidden to continue taking any kind of group dinners, such as festival banquets, birthday parties or college receptions, during the outbreak, according to Chen.

He also required different levels of catering operators and associations, as well as related departments, to realize the severity of the current epidemic situation and asked involved organs to notify all grassroots catering service operators and subdistrict offices to raise their awareness for prevention and control.

Chen said all catering service providers in the city should take the responsibility to reduce the risks of the novel coronavirus spreading.

Catering industry operators in the capital should strictly follow the rules of the food safety operation regulation for the catering service industry, and any processing or sale of wild animals, as well as its products, at shops and e-commerce platforms are banned in Beijing, according to a new notice jointly issued by the city's market regulation bureau, the capital's health commission and the municipal commerce bureau recently.

The public can report any kind of violations to the regulation, including group catering activities or trading of wild animals, to 12345 hotlines, according to the notice.

Local authorities should report to local health departments immediately when confirmed cases, suspected cases or close contact with novel coronavirus patients are founded in the area during catering supervision and inspection to control spreading the epidemic situation, the notice said.