The Ministry of Emergency Management on Monday called for strengthened efforts to prevent accidents and disasters before, during, and after the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, which runs from Feb 15 to 23.

Vice-Minister of Emergency Management Xu Jia'ai stressed at a meeting on Monday that authorities must "fully secure overall safety and stability" during the festival period, ensuring the public enjoys a safe, joyful and peaceful holiday, according to a news release from the ministry.

The ministry required comprehensive adoption of human, physical and technological measures to detect and address illegal activities endangering production safety at the earliest stage.

It also underscored tightened safety supervision over road traffic, railways, civil aviation, passenger terminals and other transport sectors during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Another priority is strengthening control over fire and crowd-crush risks at crowded venues such as popular tourist attractions and large event sites, the news release said.

The top emergency response authority also demanded persistent efforts to ensure full-chain safety management of fireworks production, operation, transportation, storage and ignition.

Technical and management personnel of high-risk enterprises that continue operations during the holiday were urged to strictly approve operations involving open flames, equipment maintenance and repair.

Li Qianya contributed to this story.