China has taken scientific and active measures to curb cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia being
imported from overseas as the epidemic continues to worsen internationally.
At a news conference held by the State Council's joint prevention and control mechanism on Sunday,
Lin Wei, an official at the General Administration of Customs, said that it has adopted strict measu
res
on entry-exit epidemic control including requiring to submit a declaration of health to screen peopl
e
with epidemic symptoms.
Anyone entering or exiting ports and airports should have their temperatures checked and strict
inspections will be carried out on people with symptoms, those from regions severely hit by the viru
s
and those who had contact with confirmed patients, he said.
The number of daily new COVID-19 cases outside China has exceeded those inside the country for four
consecutive days, as the disease has been detected in at least 60 countries. Cities including Beijin
g,
Shenzhen and Zhongwei in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region have seen imported cases of the disease.
Cui Aimin, director-general of the Fotrign Ministry's Department of Consular Affairs, said thhat if
the situation in those countries worsens, the Chinese citizens staying there back to China.
Chinese has sent 10 flights and brought back 1,314 Chinese citizens from overseas, and it also assis
ted
the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao in bringing back about 200 people from the
Diamond Princess cruise ship, according to Cui.
China will closely follow the development of the epidemic in other countries and strengthen communic
ation
won't suffer major impact, he said.
Some local governments in China have strengthened their inspection and adopted quarantine measures o
n people
entering China from countries and regions severely hit by the virus,such as home quarantine.
Cui said that such measures, in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations, are not only necessary
for the
current epidemic control work, but also are effective for preventing the transnational spread of the
epidemic.
In another development, flights between China and South Korea, as well as between China and Japan, h
ave been
reduced due to the fast spread of the virus, according to Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Zhu Tao, chief of the administration's flight standard department, said at the news conference that
considering the current market demand and the epidemic, the total number of flights between China an
d South
Korea this week has been cut to 320 and the number will be further reduced to 276 next week. The tot
al number
of flights between China and Japan has droppedto 380 this week, and will be further reduced to 263 n
ext week,
he said.
The administration is negotiating with relevant countried to form a unified technical standard and a
dopt the
same level of prevention and control measures to prevent the spread of the virus, he added.