Border areas urged to prevent imported infections

The nine provinces which share land borders with neighboring countries should each make prevention plans to deal with the increasing pressure of curbing imported cases of COVID-19, Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health Commission, said on Tuesday.

The ability of medical services in border areas is limited compared with inland cities. The commission has checked testing capacity and treatment ability in the border areas and urged local authorities to improve medical capabilities. 

Medical expert teams have been dispatched to Suifenhe, Heilongjiang province, and Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, to guide prevention and control of the epidemic, Guo said.

The commission has sent clinical treatment medics, mobile CT scan machines and P3 laboratories to Suifenhe to improve the city's response to infections from overseas.

Suifenhe, which borders Russia, has reported 377 imported cases as of Tuesday at noon.