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As of midnight tonight, everyone arriving in Beijing from overseas will now be required to do a 14-day quarantine at a government-designated location at their own expense, the city government announced at its press conference that started at 4pm today .

According to the new policy, “From midnight on March 16th, all asymptomatic persons entering Beijing should, in principle, be transferred to a centralized observation point for 14 days of observation at their own expense. In special circumstances, home quarantine can be conducted after evaluation.” No criteria were given for what constitutes “special circumstances." If you have a residence in Beijing, our suggestion is for you to contact your landlord or property manager to find out if you can get permission to return home for the quarantine.

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Prior to today, only certain passengers on certain flights have been required to go into central quarantine, mostly those who were seated within several rows of passengers showing symptoms of

COVID-19

.



The escalation in the policy comes at a time where the vast majority of new infections in Beijing have been coming in from abroad.



Expats who have been in compulsory quarantine report being put up at local hotels and are not allowed to leave their room. Prepared meals have been delivered to them, and some are allowing residents to order items for delivery.



No further information is available at this time, but we will be following up with this story as it develops. If you’ve recently arrived, let us know your experience in the comments below.