China toughens border restrictions as imported virus cases rise

Bureau: China has decided to tighten border controls and quarantine measures on arrivals from aboard after the number of imported coronavirus cases in the country hit a record high.

According to Press TV, the number of China’s new daily confirmed cases has reached 99 on Saturday, almost doubling from 46 the previous day to a one-month high.

Of the new infections, all but two involved travelers arriving from overseas, many of them Chinese nationals returning from Russia.

The border city of Suifenhe and Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, have decided to urge all arrivals from abroad to undergo 28 days of quarantine, as well as nucleic acid and antibody tests.

Harbin said it would also lock down residential units where confirmed and asymptomatic coronavirus cases are found for 14 days.

Suifenhe had already announced restrictions on the movement of citizens. It also extended the April 9 closure of its border with Russia which had been due to end next week.

Russia had previously halted all flights to China and closed its land border with China. The country has so far recorded 15,770 cases of the new coronavirus, while the number of deaths has risen to 130.

The new coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19, is believed to have emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

The virus has so far infected 1,806,436 people worldwide, and over 111,725 have died, according to a running count by worldometers.info.

China has managed to curtail its coronavirus contagion. The country’s main concern now is managing infected travelers arriving from abroad and asymptomatic cases, who exhibit no clinical symptoms such as a fever or a cough.