Guangzhou treats all inbound personnel equally: official

Guangzhou treats all foreign personnel equally and foreign residents should also abide by the local epidemic prevention regulations, according to officials at a press conference Sunday.

"We take the same prevention and control measures for all personnel entering Guangzhou regardless of their nationality, race and gender," said Liu Baochun, director of the municipal foreign affairs office, at the press conference.

"Guangzhou is an open international metropolis and treats all foreign personnel equally. We oppose all forms of differentiation for a specific group of people," Liu said.

Liu noted that the city improved its service mechanism to avoid misunderstandings or improper behaviors due to poor communication and other reasons in the implementation of health management services.

"We also hope that foreign residents in Guangzhou can strictly abide by local epidemic prevention regulations and work together with us to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control and work resumption," said Liu.

Cai Wei, spokesman for the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, said all foreigners in Guangzhou should strictly comply with Chinese laws and are obliged to accept the examination of their passports and other identity documents by public security organs.

Since March 27, Guangzhou has demanded all arrivals from overseas undergo a fortnight quarantine and nucleic acid testing (NAT).

By Saturday, a total of 4,553 people from high-risk countries had undergone NAT in Guangzhou, 679 people were under centralized medical observation and 3,771 were isolated at home.

Guangzhou had reported a total of 119 imported cases of the novel coronavirus disease as of midnight Saturday, according to Guangzhou mayor Wen Guohui.

Of the 119 imported cases, 25 were foreign nationals and 94 were Chinese nationals. Of the 25 foreign patients, 19 were from Africa, accounting for 76 percent of the total.

Official data showed that as of April 10, there were 30,768 foreigners living in Guangzhou. The five countries with the largest population in Guangzhou were the Republic of Korea, Japan, the United States, Canada and Russia. A total of 4,553 African nationals, or 14.8 percent of the total number of foreigners, lived in the city.