BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Except for daily visits from hazmat suit-wearing staff, Ma Mouyang (pseudonym) did not find the quarantine at a designated Beijing hotel much different from home isolation.
Instead of austerity and neglect, the graduate student recently returning from Britain found his every need taken care of.
"The food is good, and there are daily temperature checks, room disinfection and even psychological counseling. I can't see the staff's faces, but I do feel their utmost care," he said.
In an interview with Xinhua, Ma described the secluded life in one of Beijing's 149 quarantine sites for overseas arrivals.
On March 15, Beijing gave the order that all people arriving in the city from outside the Chinese mainland would be quarantined for 14 days at designated sites in a heightened effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which is now fueled mainly by imported cases.
Ma returned to Beijing on March 20 after his university in Scotland moved classes and exams online amid the raging outbreak. At the Beijing airport, quarantine staff took his temperature, asked about his situation and greeted him saying, "Welcome home!"
Ma was first sent to an exhibition center where he completed registration, had his luggage disinfected and was assigned a room in a 3-star hotel in the suburban Pinggu District.
The quarantine staff struck Ma as being "very friendly." "Without the teeniest hint of discrimination, they carried luggage for me and kept telling me it would be safe back in China," he said.
At the hotel, Ma received supplies of essentials and health advice, such as how to wash his hands properly. He was invited into a group chat on the instant messaging app WeChat where he could contact the quarantine team for extra help.
The next morning, a visiting doctor took blood and a throat swab from Ma to test for coronavirus. When he was informed the next day that the test came back negative, Ma "danced in the hotel room."
Every day, quarantine staff in protective suits visit his room to take his temperature. To avoid contact, they place boxed meals outside his room and notify him on WeChat.
Zhao Baoyin, a subdistrict-level official overseeing the quarantine site, said the hotel has 70 rooms and is manned by 17 medical workers and a team of translators to help foreign tenants.
Apart from the three meals a day cooked by a nearby restaurant, Zhao said the hotel also supplies fruit, pastries and bottled water. Extra attention is paid to the supplies of essentials as "many people returned to China in a rush, without careful packing."
"Many tenants did not bring sufficient winter coats, and some girls need sanitary towels and dysmenorrhea drugs. We will contact their friends and families in Beijing to prepare such things, or we can help them purchase the items," said the official.
Rooms are to be occupied by only one person, but Zhao said exceptions are allowed for those with special needs, including an elderly couple returning from the United States and a father with a 9-year-old child.
Room fees, to be paid by the tenants, are only about half the usual price and include three meals, according to Zhao.
The quarantine site, the only one in the district, had as of Wednesday accommodated 74 people arriving from overseas, including 20 foreign nationals. District officials said the hotel still has vacant rooms, and other quarantine facilities are ready to open if needed.
