China city distributes free cellphones to Ebola zone arrivals

Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, is distributing free mobile phones to people arriving from Ebola zones, local authorities confirmed on Friday.

Each traveler arriving from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will get a health care package including a thermometer, local map and a free mobile phone with local SIM card. A total of 98 mobile phones had been distributed as of Thursday, according to the city' airport entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau.

"Passengers who get the phone should keep it turned on for the following 21 days. In this way, disease control personnel can track and contact them as quickly as possible," said Wu Huiming, deputy head of the bureau.

Anyone who fails to follow the rule will be added to a blacklist by police next time he or she enters the country, he added.

With strong economic ties with Africa, Guangzhou receives over 160 direct flights from Africa each month, and many Africans enter the province after transfers at other overseas airports.

The city requires people from affected regions or who have had contact with Ebola patients or people with high fevers from the regions to enter the province through designated channels.