All international arrivals from countries not heavily hit by COVID-19 (or non-key countries) will have to go through nucleic acid tests. Wu Jinglei, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, made the announcement at yesterday's press conference on the city's COVID-19 response.

Wu said that Shanghai has already applied quarantine measures to all inbound travelers coming from or via heavily-hit countries and regions (or key countries). To further strengthen prevention and control at points of entry, in addition to quarantine at designated places, Shanghai will give nucleic acid tests to all those coming from non-key countries.

According to epidemiological survey by Shanghai Customs, in the past weeks, some entry passengers who had arrived in Shanghai via non-key countries did have a history of travel or residence in key countries. These passengers have all been placed under 14-day quarantine at designated places. Entry response measures on passengers from non-key countries have become an important part of the efforts to forestall further import of the epidemic into the city.

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