Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

SHENZHEN Bay Checkpoint is implementing a new policy that divides travelers entering Shenzhen into three categories based on their health condition and departure points in its latest effort to control imported COVID-19 cases, the city’s health commission said yesterday.

People with fever or cough symptoms and those who have had close contact with suspected or confirmed cases will be sent to hospitals directly upon entry.

Hong Kong residents will be allowed to cross the border if confirmed not having traveled to a foreign country in the past 14 days and healthy.

Passport holders will be guided and diverted to buses waiting outside the entrance hall and be transported for centralized quarantine and nucleic acid tests in the districts where they live.

According to Li Zhaozhi, director with Nanshan District Emergency Administration, border-crossers who come from other cities in Guangdong will be sent back to their home cities after having their blood samples collected for nucleic acid tests at designated quarantine hotels in Shenzhen. The test results will be sent to the local center for disease control and prevention in their home city.

People from regions other than Guangdong will receive nucleic acid tests and be sent to public transport terminals if tested negative for the virus.

Meanwhile, starting tomorrow, all people to Hong Kong from foreign countries and regions are required to undergo quarantine for 14 days or medical surveillance upon arrival.

Hong Kong has expanded travel alerts to cover the rest of the world except the Chinese mainland, China’s Macao and China’s Taiwan, effective yesterday.