China tightens border with Vietnam to stop coronavirus surge
- City of Pingxiang adds checkpoints and clamps down on illegal entry to the country
- More than 15,000 infections reported in Vietnam on Thursday
To keep infections at bay, authorities in the region of Guangxi have cracked down on illegal entry, detained smugglers helping illegal border-crossers, set up extra checkpoints along the border and launched mass testing for residents.
The city of Pingxiang added 51 checkpoints to the 96 it already had and started 24-hour security patrols along its 97km (60 mile) border with Vietnam, local media reported.
The city also quarantined and detained two people on Sunday for transporting illegal border-crossers, some of whom tested positive for the coronavirus, the reports said, quoting a notice issued by the local command centre for Covid-19 control.
“[Their acts] seriously threatened the economic development, social stability and people’s health and lives in … our city,” the notice said.
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People line up in snow for Covid-19 testing amid outbreak in northern China border city
Guangxi reported seven imported infections and four asymptomatic cases on Friday, all in Pingxiang.