China’s northeastern border with Russia has become a front line in the fight against a resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic as new daily cases rose to the highest in nearly six weeks, with more than 90 percent involving people arriving from abroad.
Having reported almost an end of domestic transmission of the disease, China has been slowly easing curbs on movement as it tries to get its economy back on track, but there are fears that a rise in imported cases could spark a second wave of infections.
A total of 108 new cases were reported in China on Sunday, up from 99 a day earlier, marking the highest daily tally since March 5.
Photo: AFP
Imported cases accounted for a record 98. Half involved Chinese nationals returning from Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, home to the city of Vladivostok, who re-entered China through border crossings in Heilongjiang Province.
“Our little town here, we thought it was the safest place,” said a resident of the border city of Suifenhe, who only gave his surname as Zhu. “Some Chinese citizens — they want to come back, but it’s not very sensible, what are you doing coming here for?”
The border is closed, except to Chinese nationals, and the land route through the city had become one of few options available for people trying to return home after Russia stopped flights to China except for those evacuating people.
Streets in Suifenhe were virtually empty on Sunday evening due to restrictions of movement and gatherings announced last week, when authorities took preventative measures similar to those imposed in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the pandemic emerged late last year.
The total number of confirmed cases in China stood at 82,160 as of Sunday, and at the peak of the first wave of the epidemic on Feb. 12 there were more than 15,000 new cases.
Although the number of daily infections across China has dropped sharply from that peak, the nation has seen the daily toll creep higher because of the rise in imported cases after hitting a trough on March 12.
Chinese cities near the Russian frontier are tightening border controls and imposing stricter quarantines in response.
Suifenhe and Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, are now mandating 28 days of quarantine, as well as nucleic acid and antibody tests for all arrivals from abroad.
In Shanghai, authorities found that 60 people who arrived on Aeroflot flight SU208 from Moscow on April 10 had COVID-19, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission told a news conference yesterday.
Residents in Suifenhe said that a lot of people had departed the city fearing contagion, but others put their trust in containment measures implemented by authorities.
“I don’t need to worry,” said Zhao Wei, another Suifenhe resident.
“If there’s a local transmission, I would, but there’s not a single one. They’re all from the border, but they’ve all been sent to quarantine,” Zhao said.
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