As the COVID-19 virus is mutating more rapidly and new strains are spreading faster worldwide, China is ramping up quarantine and testing rules for travelers.
It is reported that China has tightened quarantine and testing rules for incoming travelers, especially those from India and some neighboring countries experiencing surging COVID-19 cases.
He Qinghua, an official with the National Health Commission's disease prevention and control bureau, said all passengers arriving in China from overseas must be quarantined for 14 days at centralized facilities, particularly those returning from India and other neighboring countries hit hard by the virus.
For all returnees from overseas, two nasal swab samples will be collected from each person on the last day of their quarantine.
"The two samples will be handled by different testing agencies and tested against two different nucleic acid reagents, which is aimed at ensuring the high quality of our tests," he said.
As incoming travelers are also required to monitor their health condition at home for 7 days following the quarantine, He said timely information sharing should be stepped up among authorities across regions, in order to guarantee closed-loop management of these travelers.
These stronger measures to curb the risk of imported cases come as virus mutations have appeared to accelerate and transmit widely across the world.
The new strain that was first detected in India and stoked grave concerns over its potentially higher transmissibility has been reported in at least 44 countries and regions, according to He.
In China, new strains that first emerged in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil and India have all been registered.
The country had reported more than 140 imported infections in May so far, with a rising share of cases linked to variants, according to the commission.
Last week, the eastern province of Anhui reported a domestic case, which is the first locally transmitted infection in more than three weeks. He said more variants will surface in the future and China is capable of detecting them.
△ After that, Anhui reported more confirmed cases.
"Monitoring virus mutations will be ramped up," he said. "We will analyze genome sequences of all confirmed infections and intensify tracking of virus mutations to evaluate risks promptly."
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SOURCE | China Daily / Xinhua
