CORONA VISION | What China's Strict Quarantine Looks Like

Italian cinematographer Junior Lucano returns to Beijing and is put into mandatory quarantine. He recorded his last few moments in isolation, offering a sweet "谢谢" to the workers who released him.

For 14 days Lucano was locked in a hotel designated for returnees to China.

The strict quarantine regimen disallowed him to leave or anyone to visit.

Life in strict quarantine (Photo by Junior Lucano)

"When I arrived, I knew about this option and with the help of some friends, I booked an hotel a day before I arrived, there are very few hotel in Beijing that are approved by the gov. to offer the service of quarantine. So I was lucky. Yes, I have to paid for the service, but I was safe and comfortable."

Barricaded in (Photo by Junior Lucano)

Modern travel necessities: your passport and a thermometer (Photo by Junior Lucano)

"I was doing two hours of Chinese class online... key words about my temperature, coughing, fever and other things because those were things that they will asking you everyday."

Lucano has since flown free and is enjoying springtime Beijing.

Give him a friendly shout @lucanojr.

Badass adventurer Kyle G. Johnson has just started quarantine after a trip to Sri Lanka.

Hotel worker as see from the door's peephole (Photo by Kyle G. Johnson)

"Lunch delivery at a Beijing quarantine hotel. It's day 4 of my 14 day mandatory quarantine. Food is delivered by a guy in hazmat suit. The hotel corridor is disinfected daily. Nothing is allowed to leave my room except for garbage."

Leaving the Beijing Capital International Airport to start quarantine (Photo by Kyle G. Johnson)

"Beijing, along with rest of China, have been in an all out war with the coronavirus since late January. The people behind the hazmat suits are the faceless and fearless men and women on the front line. Here they take a rare break. I took this shot of them as I was getting on a bus to a quarantine hotel."

To battle the surge in new cases coming from outside its borders the process of getting into China is highly routinized, and entrants' every move is chaperoned or tracked. The video below shows the journey from touchdown to lock-in:

As of March 28th foreigners will no longer be able to enter the country, regardless if they hold a visa or permanent residency. Those on the inside tell of warm gestures from Chinese neighbors as well as a growing xenophobic trend-- towards those who do not appear to be Asian.