A truck from Kazakhstan enters China's border in Alataw Pass, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 11, 2020. Customs and border inspection officials at the Alataw Pass, a major land port in northwest China, are carrying out strict measures to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic from spreading through the port. (Xinhua/Hao Yu)
BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhua) -- China has scaled up land border control measures for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an official said Monday.
Liu Haitao, with the National Immigration Administration, made the remarks at a press conference on China's response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Noting that most of the countries that share a land border with China have reported COVID-19 cases, he said the epidemic situation is escalating and China is facing growing pressure from imported COVID-19 cases via its land border.
Apart from land points of entry and passages, China's long land border has a large number of mountain passes, shortcuts, ferry crossings and small paths, making it hard to control, Liu said. ■
