BEIJING — Beijing has extended the COVID-19 observation period for inbound travelers to 21 days following sporadic locally-transmitted cases.

Recently, there have been cases in Beijing and other cities across the country in which inbound travelers were confirmed as COVID-19 patients after 14 days of isolated observation and this led to a rebound in indigenous cases, said Xu Hejian, a spokesperson for the Beijing municipal government, at a press conference on Jan 5.

To prevent the risk of infection caused by people with an extremely long incubation period, the capital has decided to tighten health management measures for inbound travelers, Xu said.

According to the measures issued by the municipal government, when people, items or environment on an inbound flight are found positive by customs or are diagnosed positive during isolated observation, passengers who took the same flight should be under isolation or stay at home for another seven days after a 14-day observation period.

For those who do not test positive at the customs-entry stage or during the observation period, health monitoring will be strictly implemented for another seven days after the 14-day observation. Meanwhile, inbound travelers may enter Beijing 21 days after they enter China at another port of entry.

In addition, Beijing will step up testing and screening of both inbound travelers and goods they came in close contact with.

Currently, a total of 2.59 million nucleic acid tests have been taken in Beijing, including the districts of Shunyi and Chaoyang, since a rebound in indigenous cases, according to the press conference.