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Business News/ News / World/  China tightens screening of travelers, fearing reinfection from abroad
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China tightens screening of travelers, fearing reinfection from abroad

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As epidemic’s spread eases within China, some cities step up scrutiny of travelers arriving from other nations

China has reported a slowdown in the domestic spread of the Covid-19 disease. (Bloomberg)Premium
China has reported a slowdown in the domestic spread of the Covid-19 disease. (Bloomberg)

HONG KONG—As the coronavirus epidemic takes hold in more countries around the world, China is trying to stop the disease from being repatriated by travelers arriving from abroad.

A number of Chinese municipal governments are imposing stricter health screenings on people entering China and, in some cases, even quarantine measures on those arriving from coronavirus-afflicted countries. These controls come after Beijing waged a concerted campaign urging other governments not to impose restrictions on travel to and from China, saying such measures were out of line with World Health Organization guidance.

China has reported a slowdown in the domestic spread of the Covid-19 disease, which has killed more than 2,700 people, amid rising numbers of new cases abroad. The trend has prompted local authorities in Beijing and a number of cities across eastern and northeastern China to take steps this week to “strictly prevent the import of overseas epidemics," in the words of several of the cities.

Municipal leaders in Beijing urged a new level of vigilance against risks from overseas outbreaks, demanding stricter health screenings at immigration checkpoints and targeting preventive measures for foreigners.

Among these steps, the capital said Wednesday it would impose 14-day quarantines on foreigners arriving from or with recent travel history in countries and areas severely afflicted with the coronavirus, without specifying which places.

“The coronavirus epidemic is spreading overseas, and there’s a high degree of concern in society," Gao Xiaojun, a spokesman for Beijing’s municipal health commission, said at a news briefing. “Beijing municipality is comprehensively strengthening immigration health controls to strictly guard against risks of the epidemic being imported."

Major cities in eastern Shandong province, as well as the northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, have also imposed stricter health screenings in recent days for travelers entering China, including some that explicitly target people arriving from South Korea and Japan, where large clusters of Covid-19 cases have emerged. South Korean authorities on Wednesday reported 1,261 confirmed cases—up from just 51 a week ago.

The Chinese government hasn’t signaled any plans to limit or block international travel to and from other epidemic-hit countries, such as suspending flights or barring entry—measures that Beijing has urged other governments not to impose against China, citing the WHO’s advice on epidemic controls.

Yet dozens of countries have taken steps to dissuade or restrict travel to and from China, including travel advisories, suspensions of direct flights, as well as mandatory quarantines or even outright bans on visitors with Chinese nationality or recent travel histories in China.

Some officials and medical experts from these countries have justified their measures by citing the travel curbs that China has imposed domestically, such as the complete or partial lockdowns of entire cities and restrictions on the day-to-day movements of hundreds of millions of people.

Over the past month or so, Chinese diplomats have portrayed the epidemic as a test of friendship, calling on foreign governments not to suspend travel links with China or to evacuate their citizens—measures Beijing decries as unnecessary, fear-inducing and unfriendly.

Outbreaks in other countries—including nearby South Korea—appear to have prompted a shift in tone from China. On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing is “studying the use of preventive control measures that are scientific, appropriate and targeted."

“Recently some countries have taken some necessary measures targeting immigration to strengthen epidemic prevention and control," ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters when asked about Chinese measures against travelers from South Korea and Japan. “As long as these measures are scientific, professional and appropriate, everyone can understand."

Local Chinese measures announced in recent days generally prescribe health screenings and temperature checks at airports and other immigration checkpoints for people arriving from outside China.

In Weihai, a port city in Shandong, officials imposed a 14-day quarantine starting Tuesday for all travelers arriving from South Korea and Japan and ordered efforts to trace people who had recently traveled there. Authorities in nearby Yantai city said they will set up segregated airport passageways for people flying in from affected areas, and they have plans to conduct pathogen testing—free of charge—on all travelers arriving from abroad.

Qingdao, another port city in Shandong, introduced stricter controls this week on people arriving from abroad, including a stay-at-home quarantine for those with local residences, as well as a requirement for business and short-stay travelers to stay at designated hotels.

In Liaoning and Jilin, which border North Korea, major cities like Shenyang, Dalian and Yanji have imposed health screenings for travelers arriving on international flights. The international airport in Jilin’s Changchun city is setting up segregated passageways for travelers flying to and from South Korea and Japan, while requiring airport staff handling such flights to don protective gear.

Already, China quarantined some 257 people who arrived Tuesday on two flights from South Korea’s Incheon airport after some passengers were found to have abnormal body temperatures, according to state broadcaster China Central Television. Among them, 163 passengers were quarantined in Weihai, while the rest were in the central city of Nanjing, CCTV said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha criticized the quarantines as excessive, saying Seoul has exercised restraint in imposing immigration controls on travelers from China while the coronavirus was spreading there.

“There needs to be continued communication with China to ensure that China will also exert restraint and will not make excessive responses," Ms. Kang told reporters after attending a security conference in Berlin, according to South Korea’s semiofficial Yonhap News Agency.

She reiterated her views in a Wednesday phone call with her Chinese counterpart, though the two foreign ministers agreed to continue bilateral cooperation in efforts to contain the epidemic, according to a statement from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

South Korea, the hardest-hit country apart from China, has reported 1,595 Covid-19 cases as of Thursday morning—up from 82 a week ago—as well as 12 related deaths. Japan, meanwhile, has more than 170 cases.

Iran has reported 139 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 19 deaths, the highest death toll outside of China. Italy has reported more than 300 cases.

At home, Beijing continued to signal confidence in its fight against the epidemic. China’s National Health Commission said it tallied 52 deaths on Tuesday—the lowest daily figure since Feb. 1—and 406 new cases.

At a Wednesday meeting of the Communist Party’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, President Xi Jinping said positive trends in China’s epidemic-control efforts were expanding.

Mr. Xi urged the party to remain focused on fighting the disease, while leading fellow members of the leadership in making donations to support the fight against Covid-19, according to CCTV.

Separately Wednesday, state media said two major state-owned publishers have jointly released a book titled “A Major Power’s Battle Against the Epidemic," which lionizes Mr. Xi’s leadership over national efforts to combat the coronavirus.

Written under the auspices of the party’s propaganda department, the book features material that demonstrates Mr. Xi’s “strategic foresight and outstanding leadership abilities" that he applied in mobilizing the nation to fight a “people’s war" against the epidemic, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The book, which will be translated into five languages including English, French and Spanish, “highlights the significant advantages inherent in the Communist Party’s leadership and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics," Xinhua said.

—Timothy W. Martin in Seoul, Xiao Xiao in Beijing and Yin Yijun in Shanghai contributed to this article.

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