Quarantine for overseas arrivals in Beijing
Beijing on Wednesday ordered people arriving in the city from any country to go into 14-day quarantine as China reported an increase in imported coronavirus cases, threatening its progress against the epidemic.
The number of new infections has dramatically fallen in recent weeks but Wednesday's figures showed a slight uptick from the previous day due to the rise in imported cases.
Zhang Qiang, a city government official, said at a press conference on Wednesday that those landing from “non-epidemic countries” will also have to stay at home for 14 days.
Beijing had already imposed compulsory quarantine for people arriving from hard-hit countries including South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan.
People arriving in Beijing for business trips must stay in a designated hotel and undergo a nucleic acid test for the virus, he added.
Travelers flying into Beijing Capital International Airport from high-risk countries are now handled separately from other passengers, said Chen Bei, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing municipal government. Flights from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan will arrive at the designated Zone D of Terminal 3.
All passengers disembarking from such flights need to complete the process of health quarantine, including body temperature checks and information inspection within the area, which is isolated from other passenger arriving channels at the airport, Chen said.
She pointed out that the airport has strived to minimize the impact on inbound passengers by providing “the shortest route” for them to go through customs and border inspection.
Meanwhile, there were 22 more deaths and 24 new cases nationwide on Wednesday, according to the National Health Commission.
Ten of the new cases came from abroad — most from Italy, the worst-hit country outside China.
Six of the imported cases were in Beijing. Five of the confirmed cases were from Italy, and one was from the United States, according to the Beijing Health Commission.
China has now reported 79 cases imported from abroad, with health authorities noting on Wednesday that the rapid development of the virus outbreak outside China has brought uncertainty to the domestic epidemic prevention work.