Customs streamline clearance process for CIIE

To support the China International Import Expo (CIIE), Chinese customs has further streamlined the clearance process for exhibitors' plants and animal products.

In preparation for the CIIE, Shanghai Customs has set up special channels for exhibitors, and adopted a fully paperless process. Exhibitors can submit applications online and receive their entrance approvals within 48 hours.

"We have opened special-purpose channels for imports, providing 24 hours by 7 days inspection booking services. At the inspection site, we have also set up special channels for CIIE goods to ensure that the exhibits can be inspected and approved right upon arrival," said Zhang Shujun, section head of the Goods Control Bureau of Shanghai Pudong Airport Customs under Shanghai Customs.

Now the first batch of avocados from Australia, which is yet to acquire China's quarantine access, has already entered Shanghai and is ready to for exhibition, thanks to the CIIE special permission policy.

The General Administration of Customs (GAC) rolled out a policy last year to grant special permission for CIIE exhibits, which allows plant and animal products without quarantine access from non-epidemic areas to enter the Chinese border for exhibition in the prerequisites that the assessment has confirmed that the risks are controllable. To further streamline the customs clearance procedure, the GAC authorized Shanghai Customs to handle the permissions directly this year.

"In the past, animal and plant products without quarantine access could not enter China. The special permission policy now allows these exhibits to appear at the CIIE. This year, we have stepped up the policy support, and reduced the scope of products required for special permissions. Previously such permissions could only be granted by the General Administration of Customs, but this year, authorized by the GAC, they could be acquired from the Shanghai Customs. This has further shortened the approval process and improved the efficiency," said Cui Jinlu, section head of the Shanghai Customs Animal and Plant Quarantine Bureau.

Customs streamline clearance process for CIIE

The World Health Organization (WHO) is providing vigorous support for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in its response to an outbreak of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo species of the virus.

On Thursday, a UN plane carrying supplies from the WHO arrived in Bunia, one of the affected areas in the country's northeast. Among the provisions were medicines and protective equipment for health workers, as well as tents that were set up outside a local referral hospital to facilitate triage of up to 60 incoming patients.

The response is also aiming to strengthen disease surveillance, contact tracing, clinical preparedness and management, and community engagement.

Urgency is mounting as the the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda spreads rapidly, with more than 900 suspected cases and over 200 suspected deaths, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the WHO warned on Monday.

Addressing a high-level virtual ministerial meeting, Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said that since the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on May 15, a total of 906 suspected cases and 204 probable deaths have been recorded.

A total of 106 cases have been laboratory-confirmed across the two affected countries, including five in Uganda, all linked to imported cases from the DRC, he said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned over the rapid spread of the outbreak, underscoring the WHO's decision on Friday to upgrade its risk assessment from high to very high at the national level in the DRC.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can cause symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise, and in severe cases, internal and external bleeding. According to the WHO, Ebola fatality rates vary depending on the viral subtype.

WHO provides support for DRC response to Ebola outbreak