Traveling to CHINA - Will I be QUARANTINED ?

QUARANTINE. Hearing this word may send a feeling of fear into the minds of those who are planning their journey to China either for business or to return back to their families. Most of these individuals are those who left China before or during the Chinese New Year holidays and since they were not able to come back to China. Others are those who are planning to visit China for business purposes and buying Chinese products. All of them have one question in their minds.

Will I be quarantine if I return back to China?

Answering this question is not a simple task, due to the fact that such policies are coming up each day and being revised as well. Also answering this question depends on which city is your port of arrival. Because each province, each city, each airport may have their own policies depending on how serious the epidemic is in those regions.

New York Time Says:

Travelers in China who have recently visited South Korea, Japan and Italy – countries with “severe outbreaks” – and are headed toward Beijing or Shanghai, or provinces such as Guangdong and Sichuan, will be quarantined for two weeks in a Chinese facility.

According to CNN World:

Beijing has announced that it will enforce 14-day quarantine on all international travelers arriving in the Chinese capital, as the number of novel coronavirus cases outside Asia continues to rise.

     Who will be placed in quarantine ?

We cannot answer this for sure because the policy of each country keeps changing from time to time. Depending on the level of epidemic in the region from where you are departing or transiting will determine your chances of being put into quarantine. The names of countries whose travelers will be put under quarantine are:

1)     South Korea

2)     Japan

3)     Iran

4)     Italy

5)     France

6)     Germany

7)     Spain

8)     Singapore

9)     USA

10)  Kuwait

11)  Bahrain

12)  Thailand

13)  United Kingdom

14)  Australia

15)  Switzerland

16)  Malaysia

17)  Norway

18)  Canada

19)  Iraq

20)  United Arab Emirates

21)  Vietnam

22)  Austria

23)  Sweden

24)  Netherlands

25)  Russia

The source of this list is “China Southern Airlines Travel Advisory” provided on 12 March 2020 which says that passengers from these countries arriving into Guangzhou will be put into quarantine. 

It has been learned that for Beijing, all the passengers will be put into quarantine irrespective of their departing country.

(Source: China National Health Commission, WHO. Updated: 3 Mar 06:00 GMT)

(Source: World Health Organization. Updated: 3 Mar 06:00 GMT)

The above 2 graphs show why China is now putting so strict measures for travelers coming to China because Chinese Government has worked very hard to ensure the number of cases inside China do not increase. Currently cases in China are on a decline but outside China in various countries are increasing; therefore it is essential for China to screen everyone who travels here in order to keep the breakout under control.

Where would I be quarantine ?

These days it seems that facing 14 day quarantine may be inevitable as the list of countries which have been affected by this epidemic now called a pandemic by World Health Organization is growing and it is growing fast. For now it’s not clear if one can expect a home quarantine or centralized government quarantine. What we can do is to make sure to understand what steps one have to take before travelling and what to do if you arrive in China and are placed under Quarantine. 

Since the numbers of cases inside China are in decline the Chinese government is introducing new measures at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai to restrict the virus from being imported to the Chinese mainland. Once you arrive at the airport, besides your body temperature being measured, you will have red, yellow and green color stickers pasted on your passport to differentiate between passengers. Let us understand what each color means.

(Passengers at the Airport © GuangzhouBaiyunAirport.com)

(Main Entrance – Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport)

1

Red

The passengers who will get red sticker will have special places to take their luggage and will be taken by the airport staff to the exits where special shuttle bus will take them to isolation areas for two weeks of medical observation. These will be those passengers who will be coming from a region heavily affected by the virus and destination is Guangdong.

2

Yellow

Those passengers who will get the yellow stamp will be monitored for few hours for some tests and then they will be guided by staff through transfer and check-in procedures.

3

Green

Green stamp will indicate that the passenger is not coming from an area affected by the virus and his or her body temperature is normal and they can leave the airport by themselves.

(Special Line for Passengers with Red and Yellows Stickers on Passport)

(Yellow Sticker being pasted on the passport of a passenger)

It is therefore requested to all passengers that kindly confirm all the updated policies before making your travels to China. Make sure you know that flights are departing, you have proper documents for clearing the immigration and that what is the policy on your country regards to being placed into quarantine.

We will also suggest being patient and calm if you are put into quarantine. Do understand that it is for your own benefit and you have 14 days to finish your movies on Netflix or read your favorite books while the medical staff makes sure you are in good health.

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Source:

1)https://www.thatsmags.com/guangzhou/post/30875/quarantine-packing-essentials-what-to-bring-for-2-weeks-in-isolation

2)https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-travel-restrictions.html

3)https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/12/world/coronavirus-covid-19-update-intl-hnk/index.html

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