Overseas Hebei residents advised to stay put during Spring Festival

Residents of North China's Hebei province who are now in overseas countries and regions have been advised to spend the upcoming Spring Festival where they are, in an aim to avoid coronavirus infections, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Hebei province.

The Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 12 this year, is the most important festival for Chinese family reunion. But the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic in Hebei province, which started earlier this month, has increased the risk of infections from gatherings.

The province identified five new COVID-19 patients and an asymptomatic carrier, all locally transmitted, by 10 am on Tuesday, increasing its caseload of confirmed patients to 805 and asymptomatic cases to 168, according to a press conference on Tuesday.

But if people do need to come back, they should report their plans to return first to their residential communities or villages, and employers, and also must abide by any regulations regarding people coming from outside, including centralized quarantine for medical observation and nucleic acid testing, the notice said.

When staying abroad, they can check their health conditions over an online platform - the Health Consulting Platform for Overseas Chinese in Hebei province - on WeChat, the popular Chinese social platform. Medical experts from different fields can be accessed over the platform.

The notice also suggests they avoid unnecessary travel and gatherings, and take preventive measures, like wearing face masks when going out and washing hands regularly, to protect themselves from infections.