Beijing strengthens rules on quarantine

The capital city is tightening up screening and monitoring to prevent infections from imported cases with the implementation of a new quarantine measure on Wednesday requiring all people arriving in the city from overseas to isolate themselves at home or designated places for 14 days.

For concentrated medical observation sites holding foreign visitors, stricter management should be adopted, according to a notice from the Beijing virus prevention leading group.

In addition, reported imported cases have to be traced to their travel routes and close contacts.

Those who arrive in Beijing from overseas have to quarantine themselves either in their homes or in designated hotels and submit to nucleic acid tests for the virus, a senior city government official said on Wednesday.

Some outbound passengers who choose not to stay in the capital but transfer through Capital International Airport or Daxing International Airport in Beijing should undergo health monitoring, said Zhang Qiang, deputy director of the Organization Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee on Wednesday.

As of midnight Wednesday, 85 imported cases have been reported in China with six new infections announced on Wednesday, according to the National Health Commission.

Among the imported cases, 20 are from Beijing, and some that were reported outside the capital also passed through customs in Beijing airports before transferring to their final destination.

Preventive measures to combat the surging risks of imported cases have already been taken in Beijing at gateways and surrounding areas near the capital airport.

A special hub to temporarily hold returnees from hard-hit countries was set up in the China International Exhibition Center in Shunyi district.

"Those without obvious symptoms of fever or cough after health examination and inspection at the airport have to be sent to the hub for transfer," said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.

"Special work groups sent by provinces and autonomous regions across the country and all districts in the capital will pick up travelers there and take them to their residences."

Body temperature checks will be conducted twice daily for staff at an isolated area in the hub, and results will be recorded, Pang said.

People with abnormal temperatures or unusual symptoms will be sent to designated medical centers.

The special hub, which is not being used for medical treatment purposes, is mainly for closely monitoring the health conditions of inbound travelers, said Yu Xueyin, a senior district official with the Shunyi government.

Located 8 kilometers west of the capital airport, the hub consists of two exhibition halls totaling 28,000 square meters.

The hub started operation on Tuesday afternoon and was separated into 47 transfer zones based on different regions of the country, added Yu.

Earlier this week, Beijing Capital International Airport also created a special zone in Terminal 3 to inspect and examine airlines and travelers from hard-hit countries.

"For some key airlines, two lines for infrared temperature measurements will be set up to cut off the contagion from outside the country," Gao Ruifeng, deputy director of the Beijing Customs, said on Thursday.

"Our prevention focus on the epidemic has changed from preventing infectious disease going abroad to cutting off imported cases," he said.

Earlier this month, Beijing imposed a 14-day quarantine measure for people from hard-hit countries including South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan.