diff --git a/course/lib.php b/course/lib.php
index 06f84568064..1ee8bcae9d5 100644
--- a/course/lib.php
+++ b/course/lib.php
@@ -1378,12 +1378,12 @@ function move_section_to($course, $section, $destination, $ignorenumsections = f
     // uniqueness constraint
     $transaction = $DB->start_delegated_transaction();
     foreach ($movedsections as $id => $position) {
-        if ($sections[$id] !== $position) {
+        if ((int) $sections[$id] !== $position) {
             $DB->set_field('course_sections', 'section', -$position, array('id' => $id));
         }
     }
     foreach ($movedsections as $id => $position) {
-        if ($sections[$id] !== $position) {
+        if ((int) $sections[$id] !== $position) {
             $DB->set_field('course_sections', 'section', $position, array('id' => $id));
         }
     }
diff --git a/course/tests/courselib_test.php b/course/tests/courselib_test.php
index c038fc05ad8..8ba54a4a01d 100644
--- a/course/tests/courselib_test.php
+++ b/course/tests/courselib_test.php
@@ -996,6 +996,34 @@ class core_course_courselib_testcase extends advanced_testcase {
         $this->assertEquals(3, $course->marker);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test move_section_to method.
+     * Make sure that we only update the moving sections, not all the sections in the current course.
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function test_move_section_to() {
+        global $DB, $CFG;
+        $this->resetAfterTest();
+        $this->setAdminUser();
+
+        // Generate the course and pre-requisite module.
+        $course = $this->getDataGenerator()->create_course(['format' => 'topics', 'numsections' => 3], ['createsections' => true]);
+
+        ob_start();
+        $DB->set_debug(true);
+        // Move section.
+        move_section_to($course, 2, 3);
+        $DB->set_debug(false);
+        $debuginfo = ob_get_contents();
+        ob_end_clean();
+        $sectionmovequerycount = substr_count($debuginfo, 'UPDATE ' . $CFG->phpunit_prefix . 'course_sections SET');
+        // We are updating the course_section table in steps to avoid breaking database uniqueness constraint.
+        // So the queries will be doubled. See: course/lib.php:1423
+        // Make sure that we only need 4 queries to update the position of section 2 and section 3.
+        $this->assertEquals(4, $sectionmovequerycount);
+    }
+
     public function test_course_can_delete_section() {
         global $DB;
         $this->resetAfterTest(true);