Five passengers arriving at an airport in Weihai, East China's Shandong province, by plane from Incheon, South Korea, were sent to hospitals after found to be developing a fever, CCTV.com reported on Wednesday.

The five passengers have been sent to hospitals for medical treatment and observation, and other passengers on the plane were sent to designated hotels for medical observation to ensure their health and that of their family members.

There were 163 passengers on board, with 19 South Koreans, three Americans, one Ukrainian and the rest Chinese.

Weihai has enacted rigid epidemic-control measures since Tuesday amid the COVID-19 epidemic. It requires all people who enter Weihai via airports, ports, railway stations and high-speed trains to have their temperatures checked and register their information onsite. Those with a fever will be sent by disease control staff to hospitals for professional treatment.