North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region has ramped up measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia, requiring all overseas inbound travelers to receive a nucleic acid test.

That’s according to an emergency statement released by the Inner Mongolia Health Commission on March 10, in response to the situation where the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread abroad, with severe epidemics now occurring in individual countries.

The requirement also applies to all the foreigners coming to Inner Mongolia via Wuhan in Hubei province — the epicenter of the epidemic in China — as well as from the city’s surrounding areas and from other communities with reported virus cases in China.

All foreigners in Inner Mongolia who are currently undergoing medical quarantine observation and have not undergone nucleic acid testing will need the test as well.

The emergency notice states that those who need to detect nucleic acids should perform the test before ending their 14-day medical quarantine observation.

If the test result proves negative and there are no abnormal symptoms such as a fever and cough, the medical observation will be discontinued as scheduled.

Officials said, however, that if the test result shows positive, the traveler being tested will be further diagnosed and transferred to receive treatment at designated hospitals.