Inbound overseas flights landing in special zone at Capital airport

Starting Sunday, all inbound international flights arriving in Beijing began landing at Terminal 3's special D Zone at the Capital International Airport, a senior Capital airport manager said Tuesday.

As of Monday, 112 flights had landed at the special D Zone since it was enabled on March 10,and 20,718 passengers had been transported from the area to aquarantine site or their province of residence, said Zhao Ying, vice-general manager of Capital Airport Holding Company, on Tuesday during the city's daily media briefing oncontaining the virus.

To ease the growing pressure of surging inbound travelers and luggage from overseas, airport authorities have applied multiple ways to deal with the increasing risk of imported infections of novel coronavirus, she said.

Posts to divide passenger flows and isolation belts have been set up at the D Zone in the airport to better guide travelers for immigration procedures and body temperature checks, she added.

More than 10 trucks had been deployed from the municipal Transport Department to participate in the transportation of luggage, Zhao said, adding three airport buses with one transport van would be assigned to carry a group of inbound travelers from the airport to the special hub at the China International Exhibition Center in Shunyi district for further health inspection and quarantine.

To date, Beijing hasscreened more than 1,600 overseas imported suspected novel coronavirus cases, with 38 confirmed since Feb 29, said Li Ang, president of Beijing Ditan Hospital, a major designated local hospital for treating COVID-19 patients.