China's top health authority said on January 20 that people intending to travel home to rural areas during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday must provide negative novel coronavirus test results taken within seven days of embarkation. The tightened policy is being rolled out as a rising number of domestic cluster infections have been reported in recent weeks.

The announcement soon went viral on Weibo, the Chinese-version Twitter, arising public debates over related requirements on nucleic acid test (NAT) and isolation. Below are answers to some high-profiled questions on holiday home returnees from the National Health Commission (NHC).

Q1: The specification of "home returnees"

A: Home returnees refer to people who travel home to rural areas during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday. They include three groups of people:

1. individuals traveling across provinces;

2. people returning from high- and medium-risk areas within the province;

3. personnel working at imported cold-chain food industry, people with direct contact with imported products, employees at quarantine venues, and people working at transportation systems.

Q2: Where can home-comers get a nucleic acid test of COVID-19?

A: People can take a NAT at qualified medical institution, local disease control and prevention center or third-party testing institution. The negative NAT result certificate should be issued within seven days of their departure.