Foreigners temporarily not allowed to enter China
March 31, 2020 Category Health, Weekly
As of 0:00 h. on March 28, China banned foreigners from entering the country, even those with a valid visa or residence permit. Only a few exceptions are allowed, such as for diplomats or those who have obtained a new humanitarian visa. The measure aims to stop the increasing number of travelers arriving in China from abroad who are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Chinese passport holders are still allowed to enter the country, but they will be tested for the coronavirus and quarantined for 14 days. Chinese airlines drastically reduced the number of international flights, as they are now almost exclusively reserved for Chinese nationals. About 90% of all the imported cases are Chinese passport holders, Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui said, adding that 40% were Chinese students returning home.
“In view of the rapid spread of the new coronavirus epidemic worldwide, China has decided to temporarily suspend entry of foreigners with currently valid visas and residence permits in China,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “This is an interim measure that China has to take in order to respond to the current epidemic situation, with reference to the practice of many countries,” it added. “The Chinese side will adjust the above measures according to the epidemic situation through separate announcements.” Foreign citizens coming to China for “necessary economic, trade, scientific or technological activities or out of emergency humanitarian needs” can still apply for visas.
International flight routes will also be drastically cut. China’s aviation regulator has asked domestic airlines to reduce their international routes to only one per country while capping the number of flights to no more than one flight per week. Airlines are required to cap the passenger load factor on inbound and outbound flights at 75% to curb contagion risks. Some Chinese provinces have suspended all international flights, initially for 14 days. On March 25, Shanghai Pudong International Airport ranked first in international connections, still accepting 51 overseas flights, followed by 18 flights to Guangzhou, 10 flights to Beijing, and seven flights to Xiamen in Fujian province. But those number were down from the beginning of the month, when Shanghai welcomed 52 international flights, Beijing 25 and Guangzhou 18.
The number of scheduled international flights is expected to drop to 108 this week, down from 734 for the previous week and only 1.2% of the weekly volume before the pandemic. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, will operate 61 international flights this week, down by 89% from the week before. The daily number of incoming air travelers will also go down from 25,000 to 4,000 for the same period, officials said.
Last week, for the first time in two months, cities in Hubei province – except for Wuhan – lifted some travel restrictions, allowing for visitors from outside the province to return home and for migrant workers to return to their workplaces. The lockdown in Wuhan will be lifted on April 8. Several days after China reported no new cases – except for imported ones – Premier Li Keqiang warned local authorities not to cover up new cases of Covid-19 to prevent new outbreaks now that Chinese employees return to work. He ordered them to stick to the prevention measures of ‘early detection, reporting, isolation and treatment’, to stop the epidemic in certain areas and prevent an even bigger outbreak.” Airports in Hubei province have resumed flight services except for Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, which will follow on April 8. Wuhan has had its coronavirus risk evaluation downgraded from “high risk” to “medium risk”.
About 6 million Hubei residents now work outside their home province and 70% of them had returned to their hometowns for the Spring Festival holidays in January and have been stranded ever since. For some of those trapped at home, the prolonged holidays have become much more stressful rather than relaxing as they might have faced losing their jobs due to a delayed return, or being kicked out by landlords in the cities where they work due to discrimination against Hubei natives. Those stranded in Hubei – except for Wuhan – have now started returning to work in other cities in China. In Wuhan, services resumed on 117 bus routes, around 30% of the city’s total bus transport capacity. Six metro lines restarted service on March 28. Seventeen railway stations in Wuhan started receiving arriving trains and will begin outbound operations on April 8 – also the date the city is scheduled to reopen all inbound and outbound bus services.
Commercial businesses in Wuhan, the hardest-hit city in China by COVID-19, partly reopened on March 30 after more than two months of suspension, signaling a milestone in the country’s hard fight against the epidemic. The first day some shopping malls reopened, some employees and shop owners told the Global Times the number of visitors and the shops’ income was more than half of the normal figures. “Some people are still cautious about going to public places. Besides, not everyone is allowed to go out due to the restrictions in residential communities,” an employee at the Zhongshang mall told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.
Wuhan’s cargo and logistics transportation is also resuming. On March 28, a China-Europe freight train carrying 50 cargo containers left Wujiashan Railway Container Station in Wuhan en route to Duisburg, Germany, for the first time since the outbreak began. Nearly 90% of all goods aboard were produced locally in Wuhan, including 166.4 metric tons of medical supplies.
Several tourist spots and cinemas in Chinese cities reopened their doors last week, but have now been ordered to close again, as fears mount that infected travelers and those showing no symptoms could cause new outbreaks. Qiu Yunqing, Executive Vice President of the First Hospital affiliated to the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou and the leader of medical team from Zhejiang province that went to Italy to help local hospitals cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, said the best way to minimize the risk of being infected is to stay at home. Qiu also advised Chinese people overseas not to rush back to China unless the trip is absolutely necessary. “The risk of coronavirus infection could be higher on the way to China than at home,” Qiu said.
This summary was compiled based on reports by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily, Global Times, the Guardian and the South China Morning Post.
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