Medical team sent to NE China's border city to combat imported COVID-19 cases

A team of 15 medical experts on Sunday departed from Beijing for the city of Suifenhe, at the China-Russia border in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, to aid the city's fight against imported COVID-19 cases, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The experts, specializing in laboratory testing from the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention under the CDC, will bring the total number of CDC experts sent to the city to 22.

The team will set up a mobile negative pressure lab upon their arrival, which will facilitate them in conducting nucleic acid tests and scientific research.

The lab meets the third level of biosafety and will help to increase the daily detection capacity of the local center for disease control and prevention in Suifenhe by over 1,000, according to the CDC.

The CDC sent nearly 100 boxes of anti-epidemic supplies to Suifenhe on Saturday to ensure the team can carry out lab testings as soon as they arrive.

The supplies cover more than 50 kinds of epidemic prevention and control materials, including negative pressure tents, nucleic acid extractors, fluorescence PCR instruments, virus detection kits and throat swab sampling tubes.

Suifenhe has seen a rising number of COVID-19 cases. As of midnight Saturday, the city had reported 194 confirmed cases and more than 100 asymptomatic coronavirus carriers.