Baotou, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has released an announcement on further strengthening its prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to local media reports.

According to the announcement, the local government is to strictly control large-scale gatherings. Residents are encouraged not to participate in large-scale gatherings and dinners.

Online meetings, training sessions, and events are encouraged.

Events that really need to be held offline should be scaled down and the number of people controlled. Prevention measures such as temperature measurement, wearing a mask, and ventilation and disinfection of event venues must be carried out. For activities with more than 50 people, the organizer shall formulate a prevention and control plan and report to their local epidemic prevention and control headquarters.

Inbound passengers who come from abroad or from domestic medium- and high-risk areas should proactively report to the community (units, hotels) to assist in epidemic prevention and control.

Do not go out unless necessary during home isolation or self-health monitoring.

Baotou will continue to implement its "14 days of centralized quarantine medical observation + 14 days of home quarantine medical observation + two nucleic acid tests + one serum antibody test" control measures for all people returning from foreign countries and regions.

Starting on Dec 15, 2020, all personnel who travel to Baotou from high-risk areas in Hebei province should carry out a 14-day centralized isolation and take two nucleic acid tests.

For people entering Baotou city from areas with medium-risk levels in Beijing, Liaoning province, and Heilongjiang province, those who have a negative nucleic acid test certificate from the previous seven days or can show a health pass code that contains negative nucleic acid test information from the previous seven days, can travel freely in Baotou city, as long as their body temperature is normal.

Airports, railway stations, bus stations and communities should continue to strengthen prevention and control requirements, focusing on the investigation, registration and control of the above-mentioned personnel, and ensure strict verification of identity information and health codes.

In addition, residents should continue to wear masks, wash hands frequently, keep areas well ventilated, and maintain a safe social distance.