Shanghai will temporarily allow foreign HIV and venereal disease carriers, as well as mentally-disabled people to enter the city during the Beijing Olympic Games, according to the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

These people must remain under the health authority's supervision during their stay in the city, the bureau said.

In addition, every foreigner is allowed to bring one pet, including guide dogs, when entering Shanghai.

In November, a senior government official said a 20-year ban on foreign HIV carriers from entering the country could be lifted.

Mao Qun'an, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the change could come after the central government finishes an amendment to the Regulation of Supervision and Management of AIDS, a rule that went into effect on January 14, 1988.

(Shanghai Daily July 9, 2008)