The Ministry of Transport ("MOT") and the National Health Commission ("NHC") have recently issued the Circular on Effectively Streamlining the Procedures for Granting Passes for Emergency Transport Vehicles for Epidemic Prevention and Control and Implementing the Non-quarantine Measure for Personnel Involved in Emergency Transport (the "Circular").
The Circular mainly provides clarity in two respects. First, procedures for granting passes for vehicles used to transport urgent supplies and personnel for epidemic prevention and control, and for granting passes for chartered buses to transport migrant workers who return to work during the period of epidemic battel, will be streamlined. Vehicles with the aforesaid passes must be given the access to the green passage for emergency transport, to ensure emergency transport vehicles will not be required to pull over to undergo inspections or pay road tolls and will be given priority access. Second, drivers that transport, for a short period of time, supplies to Hubei Province and other seriously-hit areas, as well as other supporting personnel such as loaders, and drivers and crew of road and water passenger transportation who do not enter the city of Wuhan, shall not be subject to quarantine measure, provided that their body temperature meets the requirement and they have taken necessary precautions such as wearing masks. This move aims at avoiding "sweeping" quarantine measures that will affect the supporting transport work.