Special lab to support Suifenhe

A mobile negative-pressure laboratory with a daily capacity of more than 1,000 coronavirus tests began operating on Monday in Suifenhe, a county-level city administered by Mudanjiang on the Russian border in Heilongjiang province, People's Daily reported on Tuesday.

Built by 15 experts from the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the laboratory has greatly improved the city' daily testing capacity and will play a key role in virus prevention and control, said Wu Guizhen, Party secretary of the institute.

The province's health commission reported 79 new imported COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

All the new cases were Chinese citizens who had entered the Chinese mainland via the highway port of entry in Suifenhe after flying from Moscow to Vladivostok, Russia.

All border crossings with Russia, including the highway port of entry in Suifenhe, Heilongjiang, have been closed since April 7. 

The provincial virus control and prevention department offered a reward on Monday of up to 3,000 yuan ($425) for information that helps identify people who cross the border illegally.

"Since March 21, there have been 2,497 people who entered China via Suifenhe, and 1,479 people remain in quarantine," Wang Yongping, Suifenhe's acting mayor, told CCTV News on Monday.

"Based on current data, the proportion of confirmed cases imported from abroad in the early stage is about 10 percent. The probability of confirmed cases may reach 15 percent with the addition of asymptomatic patients."

It is estimated that 15 to 20 percent of returnees will be confirmed positive with COVID-19, he added.

The local government has placed all returnees in quarantine.

"No local cases related to imported patients were reported in the city," Yu Kaijiang, director of First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University and head of the provincial medical team dispatched to Suifenhe.

"However, because of limited medical resources Mudanjiang will face great pressure if there are more than 1,000 patients."