Quarantine for all arrivals from badly hit nations

With the recent rise of coronavirus cases outside China, all people arriving in Shanghai from key countries and regions must undergo 14-day quarantine at home or in designated places for medical observation, a city government spokesman told a press meet on Tuesday.

After Zhejiang Province reported seven imported coronavirus cases from overseas on Tuesday, the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention contacted its Zhejiang counterpart and launched an investigation. “So far, 71 close contacts of these cases have been chased down in Shanghai and are under quarantine,” Zheng Jin, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Health Commission.

Six of the new patients came from Italy, where they took the same flight to Pudong International Airport via Moscow. They took the same plane with an imported case reported by Zhejiang on the previous day. Their temperatures were normal upon arrival on February 27. They took a rented vehicle back to Qingtian County of Lishui City in Zhejiang, without staying in Shanghai.

Another patient, who worked at the same restaurant with the case reported on Monday in Italy, flew from Italy to the Pudong airport via Germany and wasn’t found with a high temperature upon arrival on February 29. This person also took a rented car to Qingtian County, without staying in Shanghai.

The commission further announced that no new coronavirus cases had been reported in Shanghai in the latest 12 hours as of midday Tuesday. Another seven suspected cases were ruled out and two patients were discharged upon recovery.

So far, the city has reported 338 infections and 3 fatalities. Forty-one patients are still hospitalized, with 32 in stable condition and 9 critical.

The coronavirus epidemic is spreading across the world, prompting an uptick of imported cases arriving in China.

In total there have been 13 confirmed cases of the imported — all in Chinese nationals returning from overseas.

More than 3,100 people have died and over 90,000 have been infected worldwide.

The vast majority of cases are in China, but South Korea, Italy and Iran have emerged as the countries with the most cases outside the China.

The seven new cases in Zhejiang form the bulk of the 11 new cases reported on Monday in China outside Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak. A total of 125 new confirmed cases were reported.

There have also been four confirmed cases of infections originating in Iran — two in Beijing and two in the northwest Ningxia region — and one case in the southern city of Shenzhen in a person who had traveled from Britain via Hong Kong.

Those arriving in the capital from virus-hit countries — including South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan — must self-quarantine for 14 days, the deputy secretary of Beijing’s government said on Tuesday.

“If their destination is Beijing, everyone should be quarantined no matter whether they are Chinese or foreigners,” said the official, Chen Bei.

Officials in southern Guangdong Province also announced they would implement similar measures.

China was, meanwhile, chartering a flight on Tuesday to bring home citizens stranded in Iran, Global Times reported.