China on Sunday rushed a team of medical experts to its northeastern city of Suifenhe, bordering Russia, after a spike in the number of imported COVID-19 cases from the neighbouring country.
Suifenhe has so far reported 194 confirmed cases and more than 100 asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers, the State-run Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. Most of the patients were Chinese nationals who crossed the border in recent days.
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Experts said the number may increase.
A team of 15 medical experts on Sunday departed from Beijing for Suifenhe, at the China-Russia border in China’s Heilongjiang province, to aid the city’s fight against imported COVID-19 cases, said the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The team, specialising in laboratory testing from the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention will bring the total number of CDC experts sent to the city to 22, according to the Xinhua report.
The team will set up a mobile negative pressure lab upon their arrival, which will facilitate them in conducting nucleic acid tests and scientific research.
“The proportion of COVID-19 patients has been very high at between 10% to 20% in each batch of inbound personnel,” said Yu Kaijiang, head of the local medical treatment team.
“The ratio in some batches was even higher,” he said..
Official data showed that so far a total of 2,497 people have entered Suifenhe from Russia.
Ge Hong, deputy director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Health Commission, said they had been monitoring the body temperature of inbound personnel who were put under isolation soon after their arrival in the city, and he believed the number of patients might rise further in the coming days.
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According to Yu, all severely ill COVID-19 patients were cases that had developed fever or cough in Russia and returned after a long journey.
The Suifenhe port, a major land checkpoint at the border, has shut down its passenger inspection channel and tightened checks on the freight inspection channel.
All personnel entering Suifenhe from the border are required to undergo nucleic acid tests and be quarantined in designated facilities.
Earlier, China reported 99 new coronavirus cases, the highest in a single day in recent weeks, and 63 fresh asymptomatic infections, taking the total number of patients in the country to 82,052.
The increasing number of cases sparked concerns of about a second wave of the pandemic.
According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), as of Saturday, a total of 1,280 imported cases were reported in China. Of the cases, 481 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 799 were being treated with 36 in severe condition.
It said 99 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Saturday, of which 97 were from people returning from abroad.
Also on Saturday, 63 new asymptomatic cases, including 12 from abroad, were reported on the mainland. The NHC said 1,086 asymptomatic cases, including 332 from abroad, were still under medical observation.
Asymptomatic cases refer to people who are tested positive for the coronavirus but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. They are infectious and pose a risk of spreading to others.
The increase in COVID-19 cases after the virus was curbed in its epicentre Hubei province and its capital Wuhan has become a source of concern, especially when China has permitted normal activities all over the country.
