China amps up testing at borders as imported coronavirus cases top 1,600

China reported 30 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, a majority of them coming from abroad, taking the number of imported infections in the country to 1,610. To this end, China has scaled-up testing and treatment for COVID-19 infections in border areas.

Of the total imported cases, 811 people are being treated with 41 in severe conditions.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus remained 4,632 with no new fatalities being reported on Tuesday. The overall case tally climbed to 82,788, of which 1,005 patients are still being treated and 77,151 have been discharged, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said.

A total of 42 new asymptomatic cases, including seven from abroad, were reported on Tuesday, taking the total to 991 asymptomatic cases. All of them were under medical observation, the NHC said in a report.

With an over 22,000-km land border dotted with 91 land ports, along with a large number of shortcuts and side routes, China faces a high risk of coronavirus importation via its land border, Xinhua report said.

However, the medical service capacity in some border regions is relatively insufficient for the epidemic response. Hence, groups of medical professionals and epidemic containment experts have been dispatched to some border areas facing a mounting challenge of imported cases, such as Suifenhe, a border city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The essential medical equipment, including mobile P3 laboratories, computerised tomography (CT) scan machines, have also been sent there to improve the local ability to detect and cure COVID-19 infections.