BEIJING — Here are the latest developments on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China:

— Due to the continuous growth in the number of COVID-19 cases across the world, it is estimated that Beijing will still face the risk of imported cases in mid to late April, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the municipal disease control and prevention center, on April 13.

Beijing had reported a total of 173 imported cases as of April 12. Meanwhile, the national capital had seen no new locally transmitted cases for 20 days in a row.

— A mobile negative pressure lab has been put into operation on the night of April 13 in the city of Suifenhe, at the China-Russia border in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases from overseas continues to rise.

Suifenhe has seen its imported COVID-19 cases climb to 243.

— Chinese authorities on April 13 demanded officials strengthen the nucleic acid testing of travelers leaving Wuhan, the hardest-hit city in the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

The demand was made at a meeting of the leading group of China's COVID-19 epidemic response, which urged the expansion of testing and better management of travelers' health conditions.

— Chinese authorities on April 13 urged efforts to send medical experts and resources from inland areas to border regions to help fight COVID-19. The instruction was given at a meeting of the leading group of China's COVID-19 epidemic response.

The working teams of medical experts will support and guide local epidemic prevention and control work, the construction of makeshift hospitals, the setting-up of designated quarantine facilities and medical institutions, and the treatment of patients. Testing kits and facilities, and diagnosis and treatment equipment should be sent to border regions and port cities.

— Chinese authorities are strengthening containment measures to identify asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 at border ports and block the spread of the disease, Jin Hai, an official with the General Administration of Customs, told a press conference on April 13.

Efforts have been stepped up in the process of detecting asymptomatic cases by promoting health declarations and epidemiological investigations.

Starting April 1, all tourists entering the country were required to take a nucleic acid test, and various detecting methods including antibody testing were adopted for more effective detection.

— China will promote the work resumption and upgrading of the exhibition and convention sector to invigorate employment and consumption while stabilizing foreign trade and investment, the Ministry of Commerce said on April 13.

The country encourages firms to resume operation orderly, adopt detailed epidemic prevention and control measures, and host online exhibitions.

— China has scaled up land border control measures for the prevention and control of COVID-19, said Liu Haitao, with the National Immigration Administration, at a press conference on April 13 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.

— About 70 percent of China's COVID-19 cases from overseas were diagnosed and reported when they were under quarantine and medical observation after entering the country, Wang Bin, the official with the National Health Commission, at a press conference in Beijing on April 13.

Some of the imported cases were diagnosed on the day of their entry, but most of them were found during the 14-day quarantine, said Wang.

— Chinese health authority said on April 13 that it received reports of 108 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland April 12, of which 98 were imported.

Two deaths, all in Hubei province, and six new suspected cases, all imported ones, were reported on April 12 on the mainland.

As of April 12, a total of 82,160 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported on the mainland, and 3,341 people had died of the disease.

— No new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in central China's Hubei province April 12. Hubei had 621 asymptomatic cases under medical observation by April 12.

— Northeast China's Heilongjiang province reported 56 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on April 12, including seven locally transmitted cases and 49 imported ones all involving Chinese nationals returning from Russia.

— The resumption of work across the country should not be stopped by individual cases of COVID-19, renowned Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan said April 12.