China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment has required local governments and companies to ban the use of blanket production halts in a new round of environmental inspection.

A new round of environmental inspection will soon be launched in six provincial-level regions and two centrally administered state-owned enterprises, the ministry said Tuesday in an online statement.

The local governments and companies should not order temporary shutdown of industrial activities to cope with the inspections and are banned from adopting a "one-size-fits-all" approach to address environmental problems, the statement said.

The ministry said that enough time should be given to officials to rectify problems found in the inspections while a long-term mechanism should be established to deal with different kinds of issues.

While those that violate environmental regulations should be held accountable, such process should not be overly simplified, the statement said.

China has launched a series of campaigns to fight pollution and environmental degradation, as authorities rectify practices that boost economic growth at environmental cost.

Thousands of officials have been held accountable for environmental damage, following inspections by central authorities.

Such efforts have gradually paid off. In the first half of 2019, the air quality in Chinese cities continued to see improvement, with the share of average good air quality days in 337 cities monitored by the ministry up 0.4 percentage points year-on-year to 80.1 percent.

Source:Xinhuanet