(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-20 15:11

Visitors to China will no longer have to fill in health declaration forms from next month as a way of simplifying entry procedures ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics, media report said on Thursday.

Instead, visitors would have to tell border officials of any illness.

"The move aims to simplify immigration procedures and improve efficiency," a joint announcement issued by the national quarantine watchdog and civil aviation regulator.

The health forms were started during the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which began in the southern province of Guangdong in late 2002.

Passengers would still have to fill in entry and customs declaration forms.

Olympic organizers expect 70 million visits by foreigners next year, up from 44 million in 2006.

"The rapid increase in passenger traffic poses a challenge. So we're making great efforts to simplify immigration procedures," a quarantine official Xia Wenjun was quoted as saying.