SHANGHAI: China's Guangdong province and Shanghai will require travellers arriving from countries and regions with severe COVID-19 outbreaks to quarantine themselves for 14 days.



In Shanghai, the rule will apply to everyone entering from countries with "relatively serious virus conditions" regardless of nationality, city government spokesperson Xu Wei told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday (Mar 3).





The southeast province of Guangdong, a major manufacturing and export hub next to Hong Kong, announced similar rules earlier on Tuesday.

READ: Hubei, epicentre of China's COVID-19 outbreak, reports sharp drop in new cases

Government-backed Nanfang Daily newspaper, which reported the announcement, did not specify which countries Guangdong was targeting.

It added that this was part of the province's efforts to strengthen health policy in view of how the epidemic was spreading outside China.



It said that between Feb 27 to Mar 1, 1,496 people had entered the province from overseas areas hit hard by the virus but to date tests had shown that none had been infected.

The virus was first detected in China in December and spread around the world, but new cases have been dropping in China recently.

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