China closes its borders to foreign nationals who live there.

A volunteer closes the entrance gate to a residential community in Beijing on Thursday.Credit...Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

China further tightened travel restrictions on Thursday as it faces a surge in cases from people returning to the country from overseas, closing its borders even to foreign nationals who live there.

The government announced that it would suspend the entry of almost all foreign nationals holding valid visas and residence permits starting Saturday at midnight. The suspension also includes all visa-free transit policies. It does not apply to visas issued to diplomats or flight crew, or to people traveling to China for “necessary economic, trade, scientific or technological activities or out of emergency humanitarian needs.”

“The suspension is a temporary measure that China is compelled to take in light of the outbreak situation and the practices of other countries,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier in the day the Civil Aviation Administration of China said that starting Sunday foreign airlines would be allowed to operate only one air route to China and no more than one flight per week. Domestic airlines are also limited to one flight per week on one route to each foreign country.

China appears to have brought its epidemic under control, reporting zero local transmissions most days, and the government this week lifted the two-month lockdown in most of Hubei Province, where the pandemic began. But officials fear a resurgence of the disease as infected people return from other countries and have moved to discourage inbound travel, with international arrivals in cities like Beijing and Shanghai subject to strict quarantine procedures. As of Wednesday, China’s total number of imported cases was 541, the National Health Commission said.

China’s travel ban showed how quickly the center of the outbreak has shifted. On Jan. 31, the Trump administration said it would bar entry into the United States by most foreign nationals who had recently visited China; now it is China that is working to close its borders to foreign nationals.

Reference:NY Times