page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
section_title: Immigration control
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China / International and regional relations / Immigration control
caption_attribution_description: English: Exit/Entry Health Declaration Form of the People's Republic of China. (Second edition. Published on 29 January 2020). Travellers leaving China had to fill in this form in early February. Third question: "Have you been to Hubei Province, China in the past 14 days?". Location of the photo: Futian Checkpoint, Shenzhen.
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic originated with a cluster of mysterious, suspected pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, China. A Wuhan hospital notified the local center for disease control and prevention and health commissions on 27 December 2019. On 31 December, the Wuhan CDC disclosed to the media that there was a cluster of unknown pneumonia cases related to Huanan Seafood Market after the unverified documents appeared on the Internet. The potential disease outbreak soon drew nationwide attention including that of the National Health Commission in Beijing who sent experts to Wuhan on the following day. Chinese authorities formally notified the World Health Organization on this same day. On 8 January 2020, a new coronavirus was identified as the cause of the pneumonia. The sequence of the virus was soon published on an open-access database.
  Public and media criticism has labeled responses by the Wuhan and Hubei authorities as delayed and as failing to contain the outbreak in its early stage. By 29 January, the virus spread to all provinces of mainland China. All provinces of mainland China initiated the highest response level to public health emergency.
context_section_description: The State Administration of Immigration promised that the border inspection agencies at all ports of entry and exit in China would continue to provide necessary facilities and services for Chinese citizens returning home. On 25 January, the General Administration of Customs reactivated the health declaration system where people entering or exiting mainland China are asked to write a health declaration. Border control staff shall also cooperate in health and quarantine work such as body temperature monitoring, medical inspection, and medical check-up. On 31 January, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was arranging charter flights to take the Chinese citizens from Hubei and Wuhan back to Wuhan 124, given the practical difficulties that they faced overseas.
  Hubei suspended the processing of applications from mainland Chinese residents for entry and exit of mainland China. For those with a valid visa to enter Hong Kong and Macao, but fail to enter the areas due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese Immigration Administration will issue a new visa for free on request of the visa holder after the outbreak is lifted. Some of automated border clearance systems will be shut down according to the needs of the epidemic prevention. After Wuhan declared lockdown on 23 January, the Tianhe Airport and Hankou River ports have been without passengers for several days.
  Since 25 January, Taiwan's government banned anyone from mainland China entering the country with the ban extended to mainland Chinese overseas. Although the global health officials advised not to apply travel restrictions on China, the US and Australia restricted all Chinese citizens from China from entering their borders. Travel restrictions were announced by Russia, Japan, Pakistan and Italy and other countries despite China's criticism of border control.
  Since 28 January, the Hong Kong government began to cut traffic down connecting mainland China. On the same day, China's National Immigration Administration announced that with immediate effect, the application of mainland residents' visa to Hong Kong and Macau would be suspended. On 3 February, Hong Kong closed most of its border to mainland China. However, Hong Kong nurses still held a strike, demanding a complete closure.
caption: Since 25 January 2020, all passengers entering or exiting mainland China in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong must write a health declaration where the individual must answer whether they have been to Hubei Province. This declaration form can also be filled by using WeChat.[346]
exif: {"Image Make": "OnePlus", "Image Model": "ONEPLUS A6003", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Snapseed 2.0", "Image DateTime": "2020:04:15 04:15:55", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "217", "Image GPSInfo": "720", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/14", "EXIF FNumber": "17/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "2000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2020:02:03 20:46:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2020:02:03 20:46:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "959/250", "EXIF ApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "-507/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "17/4", "EXIF SubSecTime": "421204", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "421204", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "421204", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3456", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4466", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "726", "EXIF SensingMethod": "Not defined", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "25", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}