english.beijing.gov.cn
2021-10-28  |  

On October 25, 2021, at the 247th session of press conference of Beijing on COVID-19 prevention and control, Xu Hejian, Deputy Director General of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and spokesman of the Information Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, announced measures on adjusting and strengthening the epidemic prevention and control in the capital city in an effort to tighten the joint prevention and control coordinated mechanism for the entry to Beijing.

First, movement out of Beijing will be minimized. Individuals in Beijing shall not leave the city unless for essential trips.  People are also advised not to travel to medium and high-risk prefecture-level cities with recently reported confirmed cases. Party and government institutions, state-owned enterprises, and military should strengthen daily pandemic prevention management, screening, and outbound trip approval, implement the accountability system for application and approval. Inbound individuals from pivotal places and sectors should take nucleic acid tests upon arrival in Beijing, and only return to work with a negative result.

Second, Beijing will continue to restrict entry from places with confirmed cases. Individuals coming from or have been to any county (city, district, banner) with one or more confirmed local cases within the past 14 days are not allowed to enter Beijing. And no green code from the "Health Kit" should be granted to them as per Beijing's pandemic prevention requirements. Those who are from any prefecture-level city (county, city and district of a municipality or sub-provincial city) with at least one confirmed local case are not recommended to enter or return to Beijing unless for essential trips. Anyone entering Beijing for essential trip must present the green-code of the "Health Kit" plus a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours of their arrival, and undergo a 14-day health monitoring.

 Third, there will be strict check of the "Health Kit". Staff workers at airports, train stations and long-distance coach stations in China should examine "Health Kit" of people traveling to Beijing, and not allow passengers without the green code to board. Individuals without the "Health Kit" should download it and have their code checked when using public transportation. The elderly, children and people with vision or hearing impairment can display their negative result of the nucleic acid test taken within the last 48 hours, or the code of their companies, to facilitate the travel of people who do not or cannot use smartphones.

Fourth, regulation on traveling in and out of Beijing will be strengthened. Residents in Beijing should avoid travelling outside Beijing in principle and the city's scenic spots will have tight control over the number of reserved visitors. Inter-provincial tourism should be suspended, and tour groups that have already been outside Beijing should strengthen their epidemic prevention measures. International tourism should remain suspended.

Fifth, there will be strict requirements for epidemic prevention for conferences and forums. Conferences and forums should not be held if not necessary, and conferences via internet are recommended, so as to minimize the scale of in-person activities and reduce the number of participants entering Beijing. For essential conferences, organizers who approve them should bear the responsibilities. The regulations of COVID-19 prevention and control should be strictly followed. The Beijing Marathon, which was slated to take place on October 31, has been postponed indefinitely.

Sixth, strict prevention and control measures will be implemented in public places. Visits to indoor and outdoor cultural and entertainment places such as parks, theaters, museums should be reduced to 75 percent of the standard capacity. Chess rooms, mahjong rooms and other places in communities should be closed. In all kinds of indoor and outdoor public places such as commercial buildings, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and various stores, pandemic prevention measures such as health code registration, body temperature checking, wearing masks, "one-meter line social distance", cleaning and disinfection, traffic restriction and staggering are to be strictly implemented. It is also crucial to conduct orderly queuing and guidance to avoid crowding and gathering.

Seventh, the four-partite accountability mechanism (district or community, employer, department, individual) shall be strictly enacted. All employers in Beijing should strengthen the regulation and investigate confirmed COVID-19 cases of their employees. Those who enter Beijing from abroad, have lived in risky areas and have close contact with people with confirmed cases, regions and places exposed to the coronavirus should be inspected and reported. Once found guilty of dereliction of duty, those responsible for such links will bear the consequences.

Individuals should strictly implement pandemic prevention and control requirements on a regular basis, and take them seriously. Those who have travelled to pandemic-related areas or have had close contact with people in those areas should fulfill their obligation of pandemic prevention and control such as report in time, take a PCR test and undergo health monitoring for a stipulated period of time. Those who do not abide by the regulation of pandemic prevention and control, and those who deliberately conceal their travel history, and suspected contact with individuals exposed to COVID-19 will face legal action, and will be made public to raise the social awareness of active epidemic prevention. 

(Note: Content source is from Beijing Publishing official WeChat account.)