Abstract: With the enactment of the personal information protection law， “informing-consent” and the least necessary principle have been established as the basic principles in the daily handling of personal information. The emergency state caused by public health emergencies makes personal information processing temporarily break through the restrictions of the above principles， showing the characteristics that are contrary to the daily rules. Public authorities are empowered to implement such special information processing measures based on legal responsibilities， public interests， and emergency power， but still subject themselves to the rule of law. The legal framework for personal information collection by public authorities consists of four parts: collection subjects， logical mode， collection scope， and collection standards. State organs and authorized organizations are the implementing entities， and collection measures should comply with the logical mode of statutory collection. General personal information and sensitive personal information are subject to statutory collection， but the latter requires special protective measures. Collection subjects can be classified into three categories of strong， medium， and weak correlations based on population and space. Subjects of strong correlation are subject to statutory collection， while subjects of medium or weak correlation are subject to consent collection.

Key words: public health emergency; public authority; personal information; statutory collection; emergency state