China has announced it will temporarily deny entry to most foreigners amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The country’s Ministry

of Foreign Affairs saidThursday that beginning on Saturday, March 28, it’s suspending entryto foreign nationals with valid visas or residence permits, TheAssociated Press reports. There will be exceptions made fordiplomatic workers, and foreign nationals coming for “necessary economic,trade, scientific or technological activities or out of emergency humanitarianneeds” will still be able to apply for visas.

For more than a week,

China has said a majority of its new coronavirus cases have come from

overseas, AP reports. This latest move is “a sign thatChina, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, is seeking to curb the numberof imported cases in order to stop its epidemic from flaring upagain,” Axios writes. Earlier this week, China said it would lift the lockdown on Wuhan, wherethe novel coronavirus originated, on April 8.

China’s Ministry of

Foreign Affairs in its Thursday announcement described this suspension as

“a temporary measure that China is compelled to take in light of the

outbreak situation and the practices of other countries.”

The New York Times notes that since“now it is China that is working to close its borders to foreignnationals” after in January the Trump administration denied U.S. entry tomost foreign nationals who visited China recently, this news demonstrates“how quickly the center of the outbreak has shifted.” The WorldHealth Organization recently said the United States has potential tobecome the new epicenter of the pandemic.