On January 25, 2021, the State Council issued a notice on requiring all the local governments to provide all-around services for people staying in the workplace for Spring Festival, which clearly stated that people in high-risk areas should celebrate the Chinese New Year on the spot to curb the spread of COVID-19 virus; people from medium-risk areas should spend the holiday exactly where they were, those who need to travel under special circumstances should be approved by the local CDC; while people in low-risk areas should avoid non-essential trips.

Do All Travelers Need Nucleic Acid Testing?

According to CCTV News, from January 28 to March 8, below are the three types of personnel who need to hold a negative certificate of nucleic acid test.

• Cross-provincial personnel returning to rural areas;
  
• Persons returning to rural areas from the cities where high-and medium-risk areas are located;
  
• Key groups of people returning to rural areas in the province, including the work staff engaged in the imported cold-chain food, other imported good at ports, quarantined places and working in means of transport. 

Two Ways to Check If You Require a COVID Test!

If people are unsure whether they need to carry out the nucleic acid test or not before travelling, here are the two ways to find out:

1. The first way is to directly dial the 24-hour mayor’s service hotline “area code + 12345” of the destination city;
2. The second way is to scan the QR code below, but currently available only in Chinese.

On Jan 21, 2021, Zhejiang province launched new regulations in light of COVID-19 during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, with management of rural areas being a strong focus.

People traveling from areas designated medium to high-risk for COVID-19, as well as medium-risk areas that have been locked down, will be required to undergo a 14-day centralized or self-quarantine, and will be required to take nucleic acid tests on the first and 14th days after their arrival. Those who continue testing negative throughout the 14 days will undergo seven days of daily health monitoring, after which they must be tested again, according to the “14+7” health management measures targeted at the group.

For those from medium-risk regions with sporadic COVID-19 cases, Zhejiang will implement a “7+7” management system, meaning people will be asked to stay at home for seven days after a negative test result and monitor their health conditions every day for another seven days if the nucleic acid test again comes up negative when their home-based quarantine ends.

Health authorities in Zhejiang have also said that people from outside the province intending to travel home to rural areas must provide negative novel coronavirus test results taken within seven days of their trip and present green health codes. This rule also applies to people involved in the cold-chain food industry, employees at ports with direct contact with imports, workers at quarantine sites, and people working in the transportation sector.

Those who fail to submit the necessary information will be immediately guided to designated service stations for nucleic acid testing. If the result is negative, they will be asked to undergo a 14-day daily health monitoring period and take another two tests on the seventh and 14th days after arriving. The management rules for rural travelers will go into effect on Jan 28 and remain in place throughout the Spring Festival travel rush until March 8.