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China tightens quarantine for international arrivals
BEIJING, March 16, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – China tightened quarantine measures
for international arrivals on Monday as the country worries about a rise in
imported cases of the deadly coronavirus and anger rages online at how Europe
and the United States are handling the pandemic.
After declaring they had “basically” curbed the spread of the disease
within China, where the virus first emerged, authorities have now ordered
international arrivals into the nation’s capital from Monday onwards to go
into centralised quarantine locations for 14 days.
About 20,000 people, one-tenth of them foreigners, have been entering China
by plane each day on average since the World Health Organization declared a
pandemic on March 11, according to an immigration official.
Airline passengers are now being transferred to an exhibition centre near
Beijing’s main international airport for medical screening before heading to
quarantine facilities.
People in protective suits and police officers guarded the centre on Monday
while ambulances waited outside on standby.
Travellers had previously been allowed to undergo the mandatory isolation
at home but now only those with “special circumstances” will be allowed to do
so.
People sent to the facilities must pay for their stay.
Authorities have given few details but at least three hotels told AFP they
were designated to receive quarantined passengers. Staff wearing medical
suits stood guard at hotel entrances.
People over 70 years old, minors, pregnant women, those who live alone, and
people with underlying medical conditions can quarantine at home, Beijing
city officials said.
Outside the transfer centre, diplomats from Germany and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo told AFP they were exempt from the centralised
quarantine because they were diplomatic staff.
Mayanga Kabibi, the DRC embassy employee, said she had been waiting for a
driver for several hours after her flight from Paris landed at 6am.
“None of the drivers from my embassy want to pick me up because they’re
scared,” she told AFP.
A Chinese national arriving from the US who wished to remain anonymous
said he was being allowed to quarantine at home with his family because they
had a newborn.
“How the hell can we be put into centralised quarantine with a 10-day-old
baby?” he shouted, while frantically packing a car with luggage.
At least two other regions in China have also imposed a 14-day centralised
quarantine on all foreign arrivals, state media reported Sunday.
Shanghai previously announced a mandatory isolation period at home or in
centres for people coming from countries badly hit by the pandemic.
A total of 123 cases from abroad have now been reported in China after 12
more were discovered Monday.
– Online anger –
Imported cases have now outnumbered domestic infections for three straight
days.
Chinese social media users on Monday criticised Europe and the United
States over how they have handled the pandemic, which has spread rapidly on
their shores in recent weeks.
One coronavirus-themed hashtag was viewed 55 million times on China’s
Twitter-like Weibo site, with many users saying they wished US President
Donald Trump was infected and others calling for “strict” controls to prevent
imported cases.
“Can’t let our previous efforts go to waste!” one user said.
Another popular hashtag with 820 million views condemned a strategy of
“herd immunity” proposed by experts in Britain and France that would allow
the virus to spread slowly, with some saying it meant “surrender”.
The country has touted the effectiveness of quarantining the central city
of Wuhan — where the virus first emerged — and surrounding Hubei province
since late January along with restrictions on large gatherings and travel.
But in a sign of the slow return to normality, four cities in Hubei have
chartered vehicles to now allow more than 1,600 migrant workers to return to
their factories outside the province.
China’s death toll from the virus now stands at 3,213 after 14 more
fatalities were reported on Monday, while fewer than 10,000 people are
currently still infected, down from tens of thousands in recent weeks.
The progress contrasts with the growing crisis abroad, with the worldwide
death toll surpassing 6,500.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1703 hrs