Beijing requires 3 nucleic acid tests for overseas travelers

Beijing is requiring that travelers from overseas take three nucleic acid tests when heading to the capital city, which recently resumed direct international flights, the city's COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control authorities said on Wednesday.

Travelers from overseas arriving in Beijing must take a first test and present their certificate with a negative result within five days of boarding their flight; they must then conduct a health declaration and take a second test at customs; finally, they must take a third test after completing quarantine in China, said Tian Tao, a member of the city's epidemic prevention and control work team, at a press conference on Wednesday.

Since Beijing resumed direct international flights on Sept. 3, the city has opened 34 hotels for concentrated medical observation and quarantine. A total of 9,437 people have used the quarantine sites, and 2,905 of them are still under medical observation, officials said.

The press conference was held following the re-emergence of the virus over the weekend in the city of Qingdao, in east China's Shandong Province, with 12 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported.

By Tuesday, Beijing had reported five close contacts linked to the confirmed cases in Qingdao. All five individuals and their own close contacts, a total of 15 people, have tested negative for the virus and are under medical observation.