Jiupai News:

With increasing international travel and personnel exchanges, the risk of imported epidemics cannot be overlooked. How does customs ensure the health quarantine work at ports? Thank you.

Sun Meijun:

You have raised a very good question, and I will ask my colleague Zhao Zenglian to answer this question.

Zhao Zenglian:

Port health quarantine work is an important part of national public health security and the first line of defense against the import of epidemics at ports.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, customs has adhered to the principle of putting people and life first, resolutely strengthening the quarantine work at the border, and mainly carried out the following work:

Epidemic and disease monitoring has become more efficient. A 24/7 epidemic monitoring network has been established, covering more than 220 countries (regions) worldwide. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, customs has issued 150 warning notices and epidemic announcements, involving 46 infectious diseases, acting as an early warning system for epidemic prevention at ports.

Furthermore, the quarantine work at ports has been carried out more thoroughly. We have developed a precise prevention and control system with targeted measures designed for specific countries, diseases and ports, strengthening joint prevention and control efforts with health, disease control, and other departments. This has created a closed-loop chain extending from overseas locations to points of entry and then onto domestic destinations. Ms. Sun also mentioned earlier that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, customs has detected 180,000 cases of infectious diseases at ports. Here, I will provide some additional data; We have quarantined over 600 million inbound personnel, conducted health quarantine on 300 million inbound transportation vehicles, and intercepted 5.25 million vectors, preventing the introduction of more than 30 insect-borne infectious diseases.

Third, port prevention and control capabilities have been significantly enhanced. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, more than 2,100 rapid testing, gene sequencing, and other facilities and equipment have been newly installed at ports nationwide, and more than 80 standards have been newly established, preventing multiple diseases at the same time through comprehensive examination. Advanced techniques such as electronic declaration, intelligent temperature measurement and remote epidemiological investigation have been widely applied. Thirty ports have been evaluated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as International Health Ports, and our port prevention and control capabilities have been comprehensively improved.

Fourth, quarantine related laws and regulations have been improved. A number of important domestic and international laws and regulations, such as China's Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, the WHO International Health Regulations, and the WHO Pandemic Agreement, have been revised and introduced. We have carried out 14,000 legal education activities for priority groups, covering more than 9 million participants. In accordance with the law, we have strictly punished illegal acts such as concealing the epidemic, evading quarantine and forging quarantine documents, with more than 1,300 cases filed for punishment.

Taking this opportunity, we also remind the public through the media that port health quarantine serves as both a strict checkpoint and a vital safeguard for people's health. If any passenger shows symptoms of infectious diseases such as fever at ports, please contact the customs. We have a dedicated green channel through which one can directly reach designated hospitals for timely treatment. So please do not hesitate and cooperate with us. Together, we will build a Healthy China!

Thank you.