Qingdao strengthens preventive measures on overseas visitors

Qingdao in East China's Shandong province has strengthened preventive measures on people from overseas visiting the coastal city, as more COVID-19 cases are confirmed outside China.

On Monday night Qingdao municipal government announced that the government is providing special vehicles to transport all arrivals to their accommodations, apart from those who need immediate isolation or further observation.

Those who have homes in the city have to undergo two weeks of isolation while those who are only coming for a short sojourn should stay at designated hotels, the statement added.

Qingdao Party chief Wang Qingxian called on strengthening risk assessment and port quarantine, and strictly implementing airport screening and home isolation for people arriving in Qingdao.

"We will do our best to explain to foreign nationals to obtain their understanding and cooperation and resolutely prevent the spread of the epidemic in joint efforts," Wang said at a special working conference on Monday.

In the latest development, Qingdao Customs announced it will carry out on-board epidemic control and prevention measures starting Tuesday afternoon, if an arriving flight or ship is from countries and regions severely hit by the epidemic.

"Arrivals are required to go through the temperature-monitoring process twice and to provide their addresses and contacts," said a notice released by Customs on Tuesday afternoon.

The move, though not naming any single country, followed wide concern by local people to the surging number of cases in neighboring South Korea, which has close ties with the coastal city.

Qingdao has seen a total of 60 confirmed cases through Tuesday noon, and only one increase in the past seven days. The new measures are expected to secure positive progress in fighting against the virus in the next month.

South Korea has confirmed a total of 977 cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday afternoon, by far the largest national total outside China. Ten people have died.

At the same time, the city has launched a series of measures to help foreign-funded enterprises resume their work, in which South Korean-funded enterprises take a large proportion.

Statistics show that more than 2,300 South Korean-funded enterprises have investments in Qingdao and an estimated 60,000 South Korean nationals work and live in the city.

Also, there are over 200 direct fights connecting Qingdao and cities in South Korea every week. It takes only 90 minutes to travel between the two sides on a flight.