Psychiatric hospitals and neighborhood authorities are required to better manage and care for the mentally ill patients during the novel coronavirus outbreak, a circular released Tuesday by the central government said.

The move was aimed at improving management and preventing mental patients from becoming sources of infections in communities or at mental facilities, the document said.

The circular said 323 people with mental disorders have been diagnosed with novel coronavirus pneumonia, and 43 others may have the disease. While the patients are scattered across 17 provinces, most are in Wuhan.

The circular said mental hospitals are required draft plans to cope with the outbreak and work with local medical facilities. In addition, mental hospitals are required to conduct regular disinfections, reduce family visits and set up isolation rooms in an effort to minimize cross-infection risks.

The circular also required tightened screening for newcomers, and suspected cases should be put under quarantine or transferred to designated sites and reported to local epidemic prevention authorities.

Neighborhood authorities are required pay regular visits to homes with mentally ill patients to make sure that they take medication as instructed and that suspected coronavirus cases are isolated. In addition, isolation facilities should be informed of their mental conditions, so that they could seek help from staff at mental hospitals, the circular said.

For extremely unstable mental patients, neighborhood authorities shall contact psychiatric hospitals and seek long distance consultations, the circular said.