A cough at China arrival: health screening steps

Tell Customs health-quarantine staff about your cough and report any actual temperature reading. A cough may lead to further checks; it is not enough information to predict whether you will be released, referred for care or placed under a control measure. You do not need to decide for yourself whether the cough is infectious before reporting it.

Report a cough even if you believe it is seasonal or have no known fever. Give the symptoms and measurements you actually know, and cooperate with the health checks. If the cause has not been diagnosed, say so rather than using a guessed cause as an exemption.

Who to tell and where to stop

Look for Customs / 海关 personnel responsible for health quarantine / 卫生检疫 in the international-arrival route. The health assessment is handled by Customs health-quarantine staff; do not assume the officer checking your passport is the clinician handling it. If you cannot identify the right staff, show this request to the nearest airport or port officer and ask them to direct you before you continue:

我有咳嗽，需要向海关主动申报健康状况。请带我找负责卫生检疫的海关工作人员。

I have a cough and need to report my health condition to Customs. Please direct me to Customs health-quarantine staff.

Customs lists this as an on-site service at the port and gives 12360 as its enquiry number. Use the staffed arrival route first; the phone number is a fallback for finding the responsible service, not a remote clearance process. Customs personnel health-quarantine service

If you have reached passport control, say you need health-quarantine assistance and ask staff to direct you. Stay in the authorized arrival route while they identify the responsible service.

Explain the facts, including what you do not know

Have your passport and flight details accessible. Write down when the cough began, other symptoms you actually have, recent travel and known relevant exposures or diagnoses. Have the names and timing of medicines you have taken ready. You can show existing medical information if you have it; do not present a guessed cause as a confirmed diagnosis.

For a temperature reading, give the number, unit, time and measurement method if known. If you have not measured your temperature, say that rather than filling in a normal value. If an airport reading differs from a previous reading, report both and ask staff whether they need to measure again. A repeat measurement is a request, not an entitlement or a way to cancel the first result. Follow their measurement instructions; do not hide symptoms or try to manipulate a reading.

Fill this card with your own facts; cross out unused choices:

我要如实申报健康状况。我从 ______ 开始咳嗽。

其他症状：______ ／ 暂无其他已知症状。

体温：尚未测量 ／ 最近一次 ______ °C 或 °F，在 ______ 时间、用 ______ 方法测量。

我最近去过：______。已知的相关接触史或医生诊断：______ ／ 不清楚。

最近服用的药物和时间：______ ／ 未服药。

我不确定咳嗽的原因，请安排卫生检疫评估。如果需要复测体温，请告诉我怎样配合。

I want to report my health condition truthfully. My cough began ___. Other symptoms: ___ / none known. Temperature: not measured / latest ___ °C or °F at ___ using ___. Recent travel: ___. Known relevant exposures or medical diagnosis: ___ / unknown. Medicines and timing: ___ / none. I do not know the cause of the cough. Please arrange health-quarantine assessment and tell me how to cooperate if another measurement is needed.

This is a communication aid to show staff, not an official declaration form. Complete any declaration or questions they request truthfully. You do not need to send your medical details to this website.

If you are sent for further checks

Go to the area the health-quarantine staff specify, which may be a medical assessment room / 医学排查室. Cooperate with their questions and examination. The Customs service guide describes assessment of health concerns found during screening; the current law allows health inquiries, temperature checks and, where appropriate, further medical examination. Customs service guide, Current Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, Article 11

Tell staff promptly if you do not understand an instruction and request language assistance. Before moving, establish where your checked bag will be handled and where a companion should wait. Keep your passport, baggage-tag receipt and onward booking accessible; ask staff how to retrieve any essential belongings you cannot reach yourself. Do not send a companion back through a controlled doorway.

If you have breathing difficulty or feel acutely unwell, tell the nearest staff member immediately that you need medical help. Do not make an onward flight your priority over that assessment.

If you have not been cleared to continue

Remain where staff direct you until they explain your next authorized step. Do not head for your hotel, baggage exit or connecting gate simply because your own earlier temperature seemed normal. The current law requires Customs permission after the applicable checks. Article 9

Ask for a concrete next step using this card:

我现在是否可以继续办理入境和转机手续？如果还不可以，请告诉我应在哪里等候、下一步是什么、由谁通知我。

我的续程航班是 ______，起飞时间 ______；行李牌是 ______。请告诉我行李和同行人怎样安排。如需转送就医，请告诉我接收机构和转送安排。

May I continue with entry and my connection now? If not, where should I wait, what happens next, and who will notify me? My onward flight is ___ at ___, and my baggage tag is ___. Please explain arrangements for my bag and companion. If I need medical transfer, please explain the receiving facility and transfer arrangements.

Once you can do so without leaving the instructed area, notify your onward airline that screening may delay you and ask about the booking’s missed-connection options. Notify your accommodation if needed. If you cannot make the call, ask staff whether assistance is available. Keep any assessment, referral or delay documents you are given; request a written record if available. These are practical requests, not guaranteed document, compensation, rebooking or insurance entitlements.

What determines isolation or referral?

Under the current law, Customs acts on the quarantine physician’s assessment. People determined to have, or be suspected of having, a legally designated quarantinable infectious disease are to be transferred through the disease-control authorities for isolation treatment or medical observation. Other assessed situations can lead to a medical referral card and follow-up. A cough description or one temperature number does not let this page assign you to either category. Article 12

If staff allow you onward with a 就诊方便卡, retain it and follow the medical follow-up instructions. Show it to the clinician together with your travel history. Do not treat permission to leave the screening area as a diagnosis that nothing is wrong. Official explanation of follow-up

Does the old health-declaration change mean I can skip this?

No. The general health-declaration form requirement was removed in November 2023, but the announcement retained symptom reporting and cooperation with checks. That historical change does not exempt a traveller with a cough from reporting it. Government report of the 2023 change

Handle health reporting, immigration/arrival-card requirements and baggage declarations separately. Follow the assessment and clearance instructions staff give for your circumstances; one symptom or temperature number cannot set your isolation outcome. Official sources checked 8 September 2026.