File Photo: Xinhua

Northeast China's Dongning and Suifenhe, which are land port cities in Heilongjiang adjacent to Russia, entered "wartime mode" after each reported a domestic COVID-19 case on Thursday.

The Dongning patient, surnamed Kong, tested positive at the Dongning Customs facility and again at a local disease control center, leading to his confirmation as a case with mild symptoms. Kong is in charge of installing disinfecting equipment at customs.

Dongning and Mudanjiang, which administers Dongning, launched level-III emergency responses, and both organized professional teams for flow regulation and epidemiological investigations, nucleic acid testing, environmental disinfection and on-site control measures.

Kong's close contacts have been quarantined and given nucleic acid tests and his residential community is locked down. 

The city has started nucleic acid testing for the entire population which

Two Dongning residents told the Global Times that buses, taxis, toll stations and other public transportation facilities have stopped, and people need to provide a negative nucleic acid testing result when leaving the city.

On the same day, another land port city Suifenhe also reported a domestic case surnamed Xue, who is a loader at local free trade zone. Other cities in Heilongjiang have asked their residents to avoid traveling to those places and people who returned from those cities should present a negative nucleic acid testing result and report their situation to community employees and disease control authorities. 

The communities Kong and Xue live have been changed to middle-level risk areas, local officials said on late Thursday.

The two cases struck a nerve as the province is facing the pressure of imported infections. The infection chain is still unclear and epidemiological investigations are underway. Suifenhe experienced a serious outbreak in late March and April from people returning from Russia. 

Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang, announced Thursday that students from primary and middle schools who aren't in graduating classes will have their winter vacations early, starting from January 1, 2021, "based on the epidemic situation and the city's situation," according to a government notice.  

Students in grade nine and senior middle schools will start their winter vacations from January 16, according to CCTV News.

A Harbin resident surnamed Wei told the Global Times that unlike the two cities that reported cases, Harbin is functioning as normal.