A staff worker takes a man's temperature at an expressway exit in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, on Feb 21, 2020. (Photo/Xinhua)
Heilongjiang province's health commission reported 25 new imported COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, including two patients in serious condition, bringing the total to 87.
The 25 imported cases represent nearly half of the 59 new cases reported nationwide.
All the new cases were Chinese citizens who entered the Chinese mainland via the highway port of entry in Suifenhe after flying from Moscow to Vladivostok in Russia.
All the new patients have been hospitalized, and all passengers on the same flights have been placed in quarantine. The commission said no local residents had close contact with the infected returnees.
The province also reported 86 cases of infected people who were asymptomatic on Wednesday. Those people also came from Russia by the same route.
The highway port of entry was closed on Tuesday, according to a statement of the provincial foreign affairs office.
The statement also urged all the Chinese citizens in Russia to avoid entering the Chinese mainland via Suifenhe recently.
All residential communities in the city would be enclosed since Wednesday morning to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, the local epidemic control department said on Tuesday.
The first imported COVID-19 patient in Heilongjiang province has recovered and was discharged from Harbin Hospital for Infectious Diseases on Tuesday, according to China News Agency.
The 25-year-old patient surnamed Huang arrived Shanghai from the UK on March 16 and then flew to Harbin the second day.
He tested positive at the designated quarantine site and was transferred to the hospital on March 19.
After medical treatment, his health conditions have improved and tested negative for the novel coronavirus three consecutive times.
As of Wednesday, the province had a total of 86 imported confirmed cases, including six patients in serious condition, two local asymptomatic cases and 144 imported asymptomatic cases. No new cases of local transmission have been reported.
