Ruili, Yunnan province, reported three new confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and two locally transmitted asymptomatic carriers on Monday. All were found during citywide nucleic acid testing, local authorities said.

The five patients, all from Myanmar, were sent to a designated hospital for treatment.

Ruili, which borders Myanmar, is seeing its third epidemic outbreak within a year. It reported three locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The provincial governor, Wang Yubo, and a national guidance group have arrived in the city to assist.

Wang said on Monday night that mass nucleic acid testing, an epidemiological survey and gene sequencing should be accelerated, and close contacts of the patients should be quarantined. Management of communities, traffic, border areas and ports should be enhanced, and people's lives should be secured, Wang said.

Yu Chuanhua, a professor at Wuhan University, told China Central Television that Ruili shares a border with Myanmar of about 170 kilometers, and the exchanges between people from either side are frequent, posing challenges in epidemic control. In addition, the Southeast Asia region is still affected by the coronavirus, he said.

Wang added that the outbreak in Ruili will not spread to broad areas because of the city's high vaccination rate and its previous experience in fighting the virus in September and March.