Coronavirus: China bans foreign visitors under new temporary controls

State and overseas airlines limited to one flight a week

China is banning all foreign visitors, even if they have residence permits, under a new temporary restriction to curb the coronavirus spread.

It comes after Hong Kong also banned all non-residents from entering the territory.

Chinese and foreign airlines will also be limited to one flight a week, and planes must not be more than three-quarters full.

The country where the virus originated at the end of last year introduced strict lockdown measures on residents, managing to reduce significantly the spread of the disease, reporting almost all its new cases now coming from abroad.

However, China’s first locally transmitted coronavirus case for three days was reported on Friday, and the country still has nearly 82,000 cases with numbers slowly rising, according to official figures.

The Chinese foreign ministry said it was suspending the entry of foreign nationals from midnight on Saturday because of the rapid spread of Covid-19 across the world.

Italy banned flights from China early last month but the disease still spread rapidly there, with devastating effects.

The temporary ban applies to people with visas and residence passes, but not to diplomats or those with C visas – usually aircraft crew.

People with “emergency humanitarian needs” or those working in certain fields can apply for exceptions.

The lockdown in Wuhan, whose animal markets are thought to have caused the first outbreak, is due to be eased on 8 April.

But researchers have suggested that lifting disease prevention measures could result in a second wave of coronavirus cases in late August.