Workers spent six days converting a 13-story structure into a temporary coronavirus hospital amid fears of a new disaster on China's border with Russia.
Suifenhe's field hospital, which has 580 beds, will be dedicated to isolating patients who are symptomless.
It comes after Wuhan's limits were relaxed last week, putting the city of 70,000 people on lockdown.
Russia has become China's most important supplier of imported cases, with many of them passing through Suifenhe.
On April 6, workers began renovating the vacant building, and it is now ready to accommodate patients.
Experts from Beijing have set up a makeshift lab in the border city to conduct 1,000 tests per day.
Workers in a Chinese border city have spent six days transforming a 13-story structure into a makeshift coronavirus hospital for patients with no symptoms, as Beijing deals with a new outbreak in the country's far north-east.
According to official media, Russia has surpassed the United States as China's leading source of imported cases. The majority of the patients are Chinese nationals working in the neighbouring countries.
The new field hospital in Suifenhe, a prefecture-level city with a 27-kilometer (16-mile) land border with Russia, has 580 beds.
After stringent containment efforts succeeded in cutting the overall infection rate, imported cases and asymptomatic patients, who exhibit no symptoms but can still spread the virus on, have become China's top concern.
Suifenhe has at least 243 imported COVID-19 cases out of approximately 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases, despite having a population of around 70,000 people and being locked in for much of the year.
More than a hundred people in the vicinity have tested positive for the virus, but none of them have shown any symptoms. Nearly half of China's imported cases have recently arrived from Russia.
Last Wednesday, a remote city in Heilongjiang Province was placed under complete lockdown.
On the same day, restrictions on former epicentre Wuhan, which is about 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) distant, were relaxed.
Health officials in Heilongjiang reported 79 new 'imported cases' in the region today, including 65 people with no symptoms.
On April 6, workers and volunteers in Suifenhe began converting a derelict office building into a makeshift 'fang cang' hospital. On April 11, the project was nearly finished.
According to China Central Television Station, nine of the hospital's thirteen floors will be dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients who have no symptoms.
Hundreds of medical personnel from Heilongjiang and neighbouring provinces would be dispatched to the hospital.
According to a different report from the state television, workers are 'further renovating' the facility today, but the hospital may now accept patients at any moment.
The hospital, which will be staffed by 22 experts from China's National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will conduct nucleic acid tests and other forms of research to aid in virus control and prevention, allowing the city to test up to 1,000 cases per day, according to the CDC.
China increases border controls with Russia.
With a total of 409 infections originating in the northern neighbour, Russia has become China's most important source of imported cases. In an editorial published Tuesday, the state-owned Global Times advised Chinese residents in the area to stay put and not return home.
'The Chinese people have seen Russia deteriorate into a gravely afflicted country... This should raise the alarm: China must strictly control the inflow of patients and avoid a second outbreak,' according to the People's Daily, a publication of the Communist Party.
On Monday, the Chinese border province of Heilongjiang reported 79 new instances of imported coronavirus, all of which were Chinese individuals returning from Russia, according to state media. There have been 89 additional cases recorded in mainland China.
On Tuesday, the province government of Heilongjiang announced the establishment of a hotline to reward citizens with up to 5,000 yuan (£565, $710) for handing over or reporting illegal immigrants.
According to a top Suifenhe official, CDC experts have created a negative-pressure-style tent as a temporary lab to simplify the testing.
With the number of new cases in China plummeting to zero but skyrocketing outside, China now sees the coronavirus as a "foreign" disease and has stepped up efforts to check new arrivals from other countries.
To limit the spread of the bug, the government shuttered all entry and departure ports on its 4,296-kilometer (2,670-mile) land border with Russia last week.
In comparison to large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the lengthy, porous border between Heilongjiang province and neighbouring Inner Mongolia sees far less traffic.
It is, nonetheless, a popular alternate entry point into the country. Many Chinese people live and work in Russia, where Beijing has made significant investments thanks to strong ties between the two countries.
At a news conference on Monday, National Health Commission expert Wang Bin remarked, "We are confronting a very catastrophic scenario in the northeast, as symbolised by Suifenhe."
'Our medical resources in the area have just not been sufficient up until now.'
Suifenhe's marketplaces, about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) northeast of Beijing, sell warm clothing, cell phones, and everyday products to Russian visitors who are short on options on their side of the border.
This trade has slowed in recent weeks, lowering expectations for a sparsely populated region whose citizens have been relocating to major cities in search of better jobs and living conditions.
All visitors coming in Primorsky Krai and its regional capital, Pogranichny, across the border are subject to a 14-day quarantine.
It has shut down hotels and requires visitors to have a pass proving they are not infected with the virus. In January, Russia blocked its land border to Chinese tourists.
Quarantines for persons arriving by plane in Suifenhe and Heilongjiang's capital, Harbin, have been extended to a month in China.
In a notification posted Monday, the Chinese consulate in the nearby Russian city of Vladivostok warned, 'The Chinese consulate once again strongly urges Chinese individuals not to make hasty travels to the border region.'
Chinese authorities say they would be cautious against a second wave of infections, particularly from people travelling from outside the country, while Wuhan and other regions get back to business.
After more than two months of severe travel prohibitions and social distancing measures, new instances of local infection in China have dropped to virtually nil.
All but three of the 89 cases recorded on Tuesday were found in people arriving from abroad. It was unclear whether any came from Russia at the time.
On Tuesday, no additional deaths were reported in the country, indicating that the outbreak is nearing its end.
Authorities in Wuhan, where the virus was initially discovered late last year, ended a 76-day quarantine last week, signalling that the worst may be over.
As of Tuesday, China had 82,249 cases and 3,341 deaths, with 1,077 people suspected of having the virus or testing positive without symptoms being isolated and monitored.
The coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people, such as fever and cough, which go away in two to three weeks.
It can cause more serious sickness, including pneumonia and death, in some people, particularly the elderly and those with pre-existing health problems. The vast majority of people are able to get back on their feet.
Comments
Post a Comment