By Li Hongyang and Liu Kun

Drinking water in Hubei province has remained at or above Grade III, the standard fit for drinking, amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, an official from the provincial environmental authority said on Sunday.

Zhang Wenman, head of monitoring department of the ecology and environment bureau of Hubei province, said at a news conference in Wuhan that after the outbreak, his department had added two more factors —biological toxicity and residual chlorine—into consideration during manual monitor for drinking water.

Despite the risk posed by the virus, densities of both the residual chlorine and biological toxicity met safe standards based on more than 1,100 monitor operations in 336 centralized drinking water sources in Hubei, he said.

He said more than 5,100 test results for sewage in key areas, including designated hospitals, makeshift hospitals and quarantine spots, approved safe and domestic sewage treatment facilities have also been in proper operation.