Traffic from Russia threatens to break China’s control over coronavirus

Citizens returning home pose the biggest danger to keeping a lid on the outbreak

Border provinces hit by newly imported cases but flights into central and eastern China also bring dozens of new infections

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A man in Moscow walks his dog during the strict Covid-19 lockdown. People – particularly Chinese citizens – coming into China from Russia are threatening containment efforts. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:49pm, 20 Apr 2020Updated: 10:54pm, 20 Apr 2020

Russia has become a major risk to China’s coronavirus containment efforts, overtaking Britain as the biggest source of imported infections in the country, making up over 75 per cent of new imported cases in April, public data shows.

Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia and other locations throughout China have logged nearly 600 cases of Covid-19 imported from Russia since April 1. Over 70 per cent of them have been identified as Chinese citizens by local health commissions.

The number of confirmed cases in Russia had surged to more than 42,000 by Sunday, up from 2,777 on April 1.

The government of Heilongjiang province in northeastern China is cautioning against family gatherings, the risk of cross infection at hospitals and the slow reporting of epidemic investigations.

Wang Yongkang, vice-governor of the province, said stopping the resurgence and spread of the virus was the “biggest political task” at present.

China has reported 1,583 foreign-sourced cases since the outbreak, while new domestic infections have slowed to fewer than 100 cases on most days since early March. Of the 12 new Covid-19 cases reported nationwide on Monday, eight were foreign-sourced.

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