Coronavirus: China fears a second wave of contamination at the Russian border

Security guards patrol the Wuhan Convention Center, which was converted into a hospital during the health crisis on April 9, 2020 (illustration image). REUTERS / Aly Song

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Curly neighborhoods, improvised hospital, border closed to travelers: while according to the official version, the epidemic is regressing in China, a small Chinese town bordering on Russia has just been placed on alert in the face of the arrival of travelers infected with the new coronavirus.

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Wednesday, April 8, half of the contaminations identified in China came from this small town of Suifenhe, very close to the Sino-Russian border. It is a crossing point. Beijing is 1,500 kilometers to the west, Vladivostok 200 kilometers to the southeast.

The city has become one of the main road border crossings with Russia since the suspension in late March by the Russian authorities of all international air links.

According to Chinese authorities, the outbreak is from Russian territory. Officially, all the cases identified concern Chinese citizens returning to their country after having stayed in Russia.

Fear of further contamination

The Covid-19 epidemic is contained in China: the official number of new deaths has been less than five a day there for a week. But the authorities remain on the alert in the face of imported cases, which could trigger a second epidemic wave. However, the new coronavirus is advancing in Russia, with now close to 9,000 cases identified and 63 dead. The trend has accelerated in recent days, with some 1,000 additional cases on Wednesday.

In response, Suifenhe closed its border to travelers, but now opened it to goods, said the official news agency Chine nouvelle on Thursday, citing the mayor of the commune.

As a precaution, the city has just been cordoned off, its 70,000 inhabitants are confined to their homes and asked to go out only twice a week to do their shopping. The emergency department is also this new hospital service built at full speed to accommodate seriously ill patients. With 600 beds in total, it should in principle open its doors this weekend.

(With AFP)

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  • China
  • Coronavirus
  • Health and Medicine
  • Russia

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