China closes land border with Russia to rein in coronavirus cases

China has closed its land border with Russia to contain a spike in the number of people with coronavirus entering the country from its northern neighbour.

In a statement on Wednesday night, the Chinese embassy in Moscow said all land border checkpoints for travellers between the two countries had been “temporarily closed”.

It did not say when the checkpoints would reopen.

Russia and China share a 4,300km border, with checkpoints at Heilongjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia.

The decision came as customs authorities in Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia, the largest land border checkpoint between the two neighbours, closed at 8pm on Wednesday after a series of arrivals from Russia that had “stretched its quarantine and testing capacity beyond limit”, Manzhouli authorities said in a statement.

Located on the Chinese border with Russia, Manzhouli is also a major land port of entry for Chinese workers to Russia’s agriculture and timber industry, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The border closure also came as customs authorities in Hulunbuir, a city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, reported the first two positive Covid-19 cases at its land border checkpoint at Manzhouli.

A 37-year-old businesswoman and her husband, both Chinese nationals, flew from Moscow to the city of Chita, the administrative centre of the eastern Siberian territory Zabaykalsky Krai on Saturday. They then took a charter car to Baykalsk in Irkutsk Oblast, before crossing into China.

While the coronavirus pandemic – which was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December – has appeared to be under control in China, health officials have warned of the “dual risks” of imported infections and new outbreaks of domestic clusters.

Wuhan on the move again as coronavirus lockdown limits ease

As part of its effort to contain imported infections, China has announced a series of travel bans. From late March, all but essential foreign arrivals and diplomats have been barred from entering the country, while international flights have been significantly limited.

The restrictions were tightened again on Wednesday with a new regulation requiring Chinese nationals to submit a daily health report and 14 days’ travel history before boarding flights to China. The rule means that Chinese nationals who have booked flights before April 22 must begin registering their daily travel information from Wednesday.