Home and quarantined: Chinese back from Iran

Chinese returning from Iran on chartered flights have gone through rigorous health screening and preventative measures amid China’s efforts to control the novel coronavirus surge from infected arrivals.

Eleven people among the 311 passengers on chartered flights arranged by Chinese authorities from Iran to Lanzhou, in Northwest China’s Gansu Province, were confirmed as COVID-19 cases on Thursday. They are receiving treatment at designated hospitals in Gansu and are in stable condition, while the rest of the passengers are undergoing a 14-day observation period in isolation, the Gansu provincial health commission confirmed to the Global Times on Friday.

“Before boarding the planes, medical professionals put masks on everyone and asked passengers not to touch them with their hands,” Wang Qian (pseudonym), a Chinese returnee on the second chartered flight to Gansu on Thursday, told the Global Times on Friday.

“Each passenger was asked to line up oneand-a-half meters apart. We were allowed to get on board in batches after the temperature checks and disinfection,” she said. Seats on planes were required to be spaced apart.

Flight attendants remind passengers not to eat during the flight, not to take off their masks, and not to go to the bathroom except for special occasions, as these are dangerous behaviors that can lead to infection, said Wang.“The medics with protective clothing on board looked very careful and professional in dealing with us.”

When the plane landed in Gansu, medical staffs boarded to take the temperature of every passenger and take those with abnormal body temperatures off the plane. Others were allowed to enter through customs with a health information sheet, and were then sent to the quarantine area by a designated bus.

The Chinese embassy in Iran keeps updated information and responds to inquiries of Chinese for chartered flights on two WeChat groups. Signing up for slots on the chartered flights can be made online and passengers have to pay normal round-trip airfare of around 3,000 yuan ($433), a Chinese in Tehran said.