China on Thursday announced a temporary suspension on the entry of foreigners holding valid visas or residence permits in a bid to prevent a second wave of infections. The country has also drastically cut international flights.
This comes following a surge in the number of imported Coronavirus cases in the country.
China's National Health Commission (NHC) said while there was no new domestically transmitted case of Coronavirus on Wednesday, 67 new imported cases were reported.
Given the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the world, China has decided to temporarily suspend the entry into China by foreign nationals holding visas or residence permits still valid to the time of this announcement, effective from 0:00 a.m. on March 28, 2020, a statement jointly released by Chinese Foreign Ministry and the National Immigration Administration said.
Earlier, in a circular, China's civil aviation regulator said all domestic airlines should operate only one flight to each country per week. Foreign aviation companies should keep only one air route to China and there should be no more than one flight every week for each of the air routes to China.
