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Primorye’s Department of Russia’s consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has tightened control over China-imported food entering Primorye markets, as a result of a mass intestinal virus infection in southeast China’s Anhui Province which has killed 28 children.

Specialists will conduct inspections of the shops and wholesale depots where food products such as vegetables, fruits and other food imported from China are sold, the statement said. According to the head of the department, Valentina Voronok, the food will be examined in laboratories to ensure they do not contain enterovirus which is transmitted through infected water and food.

The department will also strengthen the monitoring of Primorye’s recreational zones and the condition of the water, with additional examinations and inspections of the territories.

The outbreak of the lethal enterovirus 71 started in Anhui’s Fuyang City in late March, leading to about 12,000 infants and children currently infected in China.

According to China’s Health Ministry projections, the virus will continue to spread within the next few months.

Sanitary services at the border checkpoints along the Russia-China border in the Russian Far East have led to health inspections of Russian tourists returning from China. The department specialists have also distributed brochures on the infection’s symptoms and preventative measures to tourist agencies that send groups to China, the statement said.