Before long, travelers entering China via Canton should no longer be isolated in one of the hotels requisitioned for this purpose, but in a permanent quarantine center, dubbed “international health center”. To this end, dozens of three-story buildings rose from the ground during the summer of 2021 on the outskirts of the city. They have a total of 5,074 rooms varying in size from 18 to 39 square meters (plus eleven rooms for people with reduced mobility). An investment valued at 260 million dollars (230 million euros) by the authorities.
Access by special bus from the airport, meals served by robots, thermometers equipped with artificial intelligence, cameras allowing remote communication with surveillance staff: this center of 250,000 square meters (around 46 football fields) is supposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by travelers disembarking in this metropolis in the south of the country.
Ultimately, all large cities should be equipped with similar centers. According to Cui Gang, an official with the National Health Commission, each major city should have a ratio of 2 quarantine rooms per 1,000 inhabitants. “Centralized quarantine centers for travelers entering the country play a key role in preventing the spread of the virus”, he explained at the end of September.
the Health journal de Canton reports that 169 employees of the Canton Red Cross Hospital have been working in the center since September 17. But, while the China Daily affirmed on October 8, 2021 that “All travelers entering the country” would be sent there, it seems that only the Chinese – who, in fact, constitute the vast majority of travelers today – are taken there.
Containment of 13 million people in Xi’an
These centers prove that, for Beijing, the zero Covid strategy is a long drawn out battle. This is based on the principle: “test, trace, isolate”. The tests are imposed on anyone traveling in the country, having an appointment with a politician, going to a collective event or who may be in contact. The tracking of movements is permanent. As for isolation, it concerns both the country – which has eliminated 98% of its international flights since March 27, 2020 – and people coming from abroad – subject to quarantine included, depending on the city, between two and eight weeks – and the Chinese in the vicinity of people diagnosed positive.
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