The government of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region announced on Wednesday that it will temporarily close the passenger transport channel between the city of Manzhouli — China's largest land port of entry — and Zabaikalsk, Russia.

Zabaikalsk, a city of about 10,000 people near the Russia-China border, has had a solid trade relationship with Manzhouli for a long time. Starting at 8 pm on Wednesday, the channel will be closed because the number of people entering China at the highway port has risen sharply and the city's quarantine and testing capacity is overstressed, the announcement said. It did not say when the channel would reopen.

The announcement came after Manzhouli Customs confirmed two cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

Two Chinese people, a husband and wife, had taken an airplane from Moscow, where they had been living a short time, to Chita, Russia, on Saturday. They hired a vehicle to take them to Zabaikalsk on Sunday. Then they walked to the Manzhouli highway port to enter China.

Manzhouli Customs workers conducted physical checkups on Monday, and the couple tested positive for coronavirus.

The couple's home is Suihua, Heilongjiang province. Fourteen days before they entered China, they had lived in Moscow, the Manzhouli Customs said.

The couple said the market in Moscow where they did business had confirmed cases of COVID-19, but that they had not been in contact with it.