A billboard warning people that illegally crossing border is banned in Wanding, a town borders Myanmar in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Photos: Courtesy of Wang Fanhua

China's central government has sent a guidance team to Yunnan Province in Southwest China as the province faces growing pressure from imported cases of COVID-19, according to a statement by the provincial government website on Thursday.

The team is led by Liang Wannian, head of the COVID-19 epidemic management expert group under the National Health Commission, according to the Yunnan provincial government website. Liang attended a briefing in the province regarding the local epidemic situation on Wednesday. 

Yunnan is facing growing pressure from imported cases given the rapid spread of COVID-19 outside China, officials noted at the meeting, vowing to focus on preventing imported cases and strictly implementing the central government's policies to promote disease prevention and control as well as economic and social development.  

They vowed to enhance infectious disease treatment capacities at county and regional levels especially those on the border with other nations. .  

Yunnan reported a total of 10 imported cases as of Wednesday, among them, six have recovered and been discharged from hospital. 

The province, which shares a 1,941 kilometer border with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, has been on high alert since early April regarding border controls, implementing strict administration measures, while 4,700 kilometers away, Suifenhe, a land port city in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province bordering Russia, sees an explosion in imported cases, causing nationwide concerns. 

Illegally border crossing into China has been on the rise amid the worsening pandemic situation outside China, according to a source in the city of Lincang, which borders Myanmar's Shan State.

A drill reacting to large scale illegal entries will take place on Friday and Saturday in counties on the border, the source told the Global Times Thursday.

"Administration in counties along the border is very strict, which is targeting residents from the Myanmar side," said a resident from the border town Wanding, in Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan.

"The road from the border region to Mangshi city is also under tight surveillance to avoid foreign cases spreading to the city," he said.