Approximately 400 passengers – including around 20 foreigners – who arrived in Beijing from Moscow yesterday are now in quarantine after one was discovered to be suffering from COVID-19, according to Chinese news reports and two foreigners who were on the flight.

Passengers on Aeroflot Flight 204 landed at Beijing Capital International Airport yesterday morning and are now spending the next 14 days in quarantine as a consequence of potential exposure to the one passenger who tested positive.

The passenger, a Chinese national returning from Iran, was one of two that turned up on Beijing's list of new infections yesterday, Chinese media reports. Of Beijing's 413 infections found so far, these are the first directly attributed to people flying in from overseas.

In this morning’s daily press conference on the outbreak, we learned that both the new infected people were Chinese travelers returning to China from business trips to Iran, where they attended at least one gathering together on Feb 18.

However, both traveled on separate flights from Moscow, one arriving Saturday and one arriving Friday. There is currently only one direct flight from Moscow per day.

Passengers on Saturday’s flight have been quarantined, but it appears that Friday’s was not.

Both passengers already felt ill before departing Iran, the Beijing News reported.

One of them, a 27-year-old surnamed Ma, reportedly began to show symptoms on Feb 25 while still in Iran. He flew back on the 26th, changing planes in Moscow and arriving in Beijing on the morning of the 27th. From there he took a bus to the South Square of Beijing West Station, where he was tested by medical staff and quarantined. He was reported as testing positive late in the evening on Feb 28.

Another, surnamed Hai, started showing symptoms on the 27th while in Iran. He flew to Moscow where he boarded the flight to Beijing on the 28th and landed yesterday morning, where he was asked to deboard first.

“When we landed they asked two Chinese people to come off first,” said one foreigner who also joined the connecting flight in Moscow. One of them was presumably Ma.

She said the remaining passengers remained on board for several hours.

After disembarking from the plane, she said the 20 or so foreigners were segregated and sent to one hotel, the five-star Hotel Maxmelin, north of the North Fifth Ring Road. She is not aware where the Chinese passengers were taken for quarantine.

Both foreign passengers indicated that they are comfortable but are not allowed out of their room and their luggage has not yet arrived.

One of the passengers, an Italian Instagrammer, is vlogging her quarantine. According to her videos (click on her profile icon to watch), box lunch-style Chinese meals are being dropped off outside her door, and she received a written message that said she would not be charged for her stay.

Left unanswered was how the two Chinese passengers were able to travel while sick, nor were details given on how Ma made it past now routine airport screenings all the way to the Beijing West train station before being identified and tested.

At no point were either of the patients in any housing community in Beijing, the city government pointed out.

This is the only flight that has been quarantined that we are aware of. Several expat residents returning this weekend reported arriving with little fanfare from Tokyo, Singapore and Germany.

READ: New Entry-Exit Measures Issued for Foreigners Traveling to China

Image: Wikimedia