Beijing sets 14-day quarantine rule for arrivals amid COVID-19 outbreak

The Chinese capital Beijing is imposing a 14-day self-quarantine on those returning to the city, and will punish those that won't quarantine themselves or follow official rules on containing a fresh coronavirus, city authorities said on Friday (Feb 14).

Chinese authorities have already been struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which includes killed nearly 1,400 people in China.

The state-backed Beijing Daily newspaper cited a notice from Beijing's virus prevention working group reading: "From now on, all those who've returned to Beijing should stay in the home or submit to group observation for two weeks after arriving. Those that won't accept home or centralised observation and other prevention and control measures will be held accountable under law."

Anyone time for Beijing will be required to submit travel plans with their community in advance, the notice said.

There is no specific mention of foreign visitors arriving from outside China, and how or whether the restrictions would connect with them.

President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China should be able to minimise the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and can keep up with the development momentum of its economy.

Hong Kong on Sunday announced that it started out enforcing a mandatory two-week quarantine for anyone arriving from mainland China.

China has reported a lot more than 60,000 confirmed cases because the outbreak commenced in December. 

A lot more than 50 countries or territories have imposed travel restrictions and tightened visa requirements to support the spread of COVID-19.