ALL travelers are required to take nucleic acid tests at every Shenzhen port of entry starting yesterday, according to a notice issued by the city’s entry-and-exit port office.

The tighter prevention and control measure has been taken in response to the recent increasing number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections imported from overseas.

Under the measure, all travelers must submit a personal health statement to customs officials at ports of entry in addition to declaring their health condition on “i深圳” (iShenzhen) or “粤康码” (Yuekangma) online. They are required to cooperate with quarantine personnel at ports of entry to carry out necessary epidemiological checks to detect the virus to prevent cross-infection in the city.

All newly confirmed cases of the virus reported in the city since March 1 have been imported from overseas by either a Chinese traveler returning from a foreign country or foreign national who had recently visited a country hard hit by the coronavirus.

On Monday, a 32-year-old Chinese man who had returned from the United States was confirmed to have contracted the virus, pushing the number of imported COVID-19 infections in Shenzhen to 23, according to the city’s health commission.

Official information showed that the man flew to Hong Kong from Los Angeles on March 16 and stayed in his Hong Kong residence until Sunday when he crossed the border into the mainland at Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint. His body temperature was 37.4 degrees Celsius upon entry at the checkpoint and 37.8 degrees on a second check.

He was transferred to a designated isolation point for medical observation due to his history of living in the United States, one of the countries hard hit by the virus, and having muscle soreness. The man’s throat swab sample taken at the checkpoint showed positive for the virus, and he was confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 by the city’s center for disease control and prevention (CDC) the next day.

He has been transferred to the Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital, the designated hospital for COVID-19 treatment in the city. A preliminary tracing result showed that the man had no close contacts in Shenzhen.

(Wei Jie, Yu Yuanfan)