The National Health Commission holds a briefing on the joint prevention and control of the novel coronavirus in Beijing on Feb 2, 2020. [Photo/china.com.cn]

Providing protective gear and disinfectant to medical workers on the frontline of fighting the novel coronavirus is the basic requirement of controlling the epidemic, a leading disinfection expert said on Sunday.

"The current situation of the epidemic is indeed grave. Medical workers need to consume a large quantity of protective gear and disinfectants products while attending to infected patients and carrying out disease prevention work. We must try everything we can to provide sufficient supplies of those products to keep them safe," said Zhang Liubo, chief disinfection expert of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Center, at a news conference in Beijing.

Disinfection and sanitation experts have been working with medical workers on the frontline to fight the new virus since the outbreak started, Zhang said. "They have been providing training and assistance to local medical teams to ensure their safety."

If medical workers are suspected to be infected, they would be quarantined immediately to eliminate the risk of spreading the virus, Zhang added.