Yunnan prepares for uptick in COVID-19

A Chinese customs officer in protective suit inspects documents of passengers on a Lao Airlines flight from Vientiane following a global outbreak of the novel coronavirus, at Kunming Changshui International Airport in Kunming, Yunnan province, on March 27, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

Twenty-five border counties in Yunnan province are preparing to construct or reconstruct standby hospitals to serve COVID-19 patients, according to a statement released by the provincial health commission on Wednesday.

Yunnan, which has a border of more than 4,000 kilometers, is facing an increasing pressure to prevent imported cases.

The province has sent health emergency teams and mobile laboratories to major border prefectures and counties to assist in testing and forestalling COVID-19 cases in the weeks to come, the statement said.

Yunnan has 45 medical teams, staffed by more than 3,100 experts and medical personnel, to support border prefectures and counties. It plans to beef up the reserve of medical protective supplies and offer more personnel training to fight COVID-19.

Meanwhile the centers for disease control and prevention in more than 20 counties bordering Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos are being reconstructed and upgraded. Completion is scheduled by the end of April, the statement said. The border counties will be able to provide coronavirus tests for more than 10,000 people — up from 4,700 daily.

Editor: John Li