Coronavirus: Chinese capital says all international visitors must agree to 14-day self-quarantine

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All international travellers entering Beijing, China’s capital, are now expected to self-isolate for 14 days as part of anti-coronavirus measures. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:36pm, 11 Mar 2020Updated: 8:43pm, 11 Mar 2020

All international travellers entering Beijing city must quarantine themselves for 14 days, authorities said after imported cases of Covid-19 were reported in the Chinese capital.

The latest measures, which were to take effect at midnight on Wednesday, replaced a ruling that said only individuals arriving from countries severely affected by the contagion had to agree to quarantine.

Short-stay travellers must lodge in designated hotels and will not be allowed to leave without first being tested for infection, Zhang Qiang, deputy director of the city’s office on prevention and control of the disease said. Zhang did not say how many days a short stay involved.

On Wednesday, China announced 24 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus which causes the disease. Ten were came from overseas, including six in the capital – five from Italy and one from the United States.

The new cases took the total in China to 80,778, while the death toll rose by 22 to 3,158.