BEIJING — Amid strengthened efforts to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic, Beijing customs authorities on March 16 stressed that people leaving or entering China should truthfully fill in health declaration forms as stipulated by the law or might face criminal penalties.

Passengers are asked to fill in all required information in the form in legible writing to facilitate identifying people with symptoms and high risk people with a history of epidemiology, and ensure timely medical treatment, Beijing customs deputy head Gao Ruifeng said.

The health declaration form includes passengers' basic information, contact number, address, travel history, symptoms, medical history and novel coronavirus test history.

Chinese authorities released a guideline on March 16 for further strengthening frontier health inspection and quarantine and punishing criminal offenses that sabotage the related efforts.

Beijing reported six new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus disease from other countries as of 2:00 pm on March 16, bringing the total of imported cases in the city to 37.