BEIJING — China has scaled up border control measures, including along its land border, to prevent the importation of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections, an official said on April 6.

With a 22,000-km land border dotted with 91 land ports open for border crossing, along with a large number of shortcuts and sideways along the border, China faces high risks of COVID-19 importation via its land border, said Liu Haitao, with the National Immigration Administration, at a press conference on April 6.

Measures have been taken to restrict non-essential border crossing, resulting in a sharp decrease in the daily number of border crossings, according to Liu.

Border ports and passages that have been shut down will remain closed, with strengthened guard, he said.

Transportation means of border-crossing personnel are strictly checked and border patrol has been tightened, according to the official.