2 border cities in northern China limit rail imports, as region tackles Covid-19 outbreak

Suifenhe in Heilongjiang on the Russian border and Inner Mongolia’s Erenhot, next door to Mongolia, halt entry of certain non-containerised goods

The new restrictions underline Beijing’s zero-tolerance stance towards letting the virus spread

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Suifenhe in Heilongjiang province on the Russian border is a major through-point for China-Europe freight trains. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:22pm, 30 Nov 2021Updated: 6:24pm, 30 Nov 2021

Two Chinese border cities have halted some commodity imports by rail to reduce the risk of Covid-19 coming in from other countries, as northern areas of the country tackle a fresh resurgence of the coronavirus disease.

Suifenhe, a city in Heilongjiang province bordering Russia, had halted the import of some non-container goods such as coal and non-gold mineral ore as of Tuesday, according to state and local media.

That came two days after the Inner Mongolian city of Erenhot, a key transit hub next to Mongolia, suspended certain non-containerised imports of goods requiring manual loading and unloading, according to a local government statement.

These include some cargoes for coal, oil, copper ore, zinc and iron ore.

Residents line up for mass Covid-19 testing following new cases in Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on November 29. Photo: cnsphoto via Reuters

The Inner Mongolia autonomous region reported 41 domestically transmitted symptomatic cases between Sunday and Monday, while Heilongjiang detected one local asymptomatic carrier over the same period.