Why is "Beijing" Now Shown in Red in the Travel Pass App?

If you’ve noticed an increase in health code and temperature check over the past couple of days, that would be in response to the recent discovery of a new case in Beijing.

The case involved a man from Jilin who initially flew into Beijing from Hong Kong who did not begin to show symptoms of infection until after completing a 14-day quarantine. Later, three people who had had close contact with the man then came down with the virus.

In the wake of the incident, however, some Beijingers have noticed that when using the Telecom Travel Pass app – the mini-app that uses your phone number to determine which areas in China a user has visited – the word Beijing now shows up in the color red, even though the pass itself will still deliver a green arrow for most Beijingers, signifying that they are free to travel throughout the country.

The explanation for the change of color comes from Beijing Youth Daily, who reports that a recent change to the app means that any city that contains a high or medium risk area will now be written in red. This is only meant as a way to convey additional information and does not affect travel eligibility.

For now, Beijing is one of six provincial-level regions in China that contain a medium-risk area (along with Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, and Xinjiang), and there are no high-risk areas in the country at present. Beijing’s medium risk area is restricted to a single hotel – Hanting Hotel on Jiuxianqiao Jiedao, near 798 district – along with the shops below it.

In short, as long as you haven’t been to that hotel, your holiday travel plans shouldn’t be affected.

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Images: Zhihu, Beijing Youth Daily