- China, once the epicenter of the coronavirus, is now concerned that imports of frozen foods could spread the epidemic.
- Mass-testing campaigns have been rolled out in China after reports of coronavirus traces on imported food and packaging.
- In Wuhan, where Covid-19 first emerged late last year, authorities said Friday they had detected traces of the virus on frozen beef from Brazil.
Chinese health officials infected Covid-19 on Wednesday as two cold-chain storage workers in a port city in Tianjin shifted their focus to contaminated imports after numerous outbreaks related to frozen foods. Said.
Workers in hazmat suits have significantly controlled domestic infections, but are now carefully screening for food transport throughout the country, which is blaming the resurgence of local infections in imported goods. It was.
Massive test campaigns were launched following reports of traces of coronavirus on imported foods and packaging. On state television, workers use disinfectants to unload food trucks and inspect frozen salmon packages.
In Wuhan, where Covid-19 first appeared at the end of last year, officials said Friday that they had detected evidence of the virus in frozen Brazilian beef.
Four more cities reported last week that samples of imported foods, including frozen pork from Argentina and squid from India, were positive.
Customs official BiKexin said at a press conference last week that customs inspectors across the country had tested more than 800,000 samples from refrigerated imports and stopped shipping from 99 overseas suppliers.
After the June outbreak, authorities stepped up screening as traces of coronavirus were found on equipment used to process imported salmon.
In Tianjin, two infected workers “previously were both in contact with contaminated cold chain food,” officials said.
According to customs data in September, China’s meat imports increased by more than 70% this year as the country’s food supply was cut off by the flood that destroyed classical swine fever and farmland.
“Currently, there is no evidence that people can catch COVID-19 from food or food packaging,” the World Health Organization said.
Infection of Covid-19 with frozen foods in each country is “possible, but the extent of this spread is unknown because it has not been comprehensively studied,” said Paul Tambia, president of the Asia-Pacific Society for Clinical Microbial Infections. I told AFP.
Screening was stepped up after engaging with food transport workers as the recent outbreak in Tianjin (a little over 70 miles (112 kilometers) from the capital Beijing) threatened a second wave of winter.
Earlier this month, China banned visitors from countries such as the United Kingdom and India and raised inspection requirements for travelers from many other countries.
State media has also strengthened the claim that the virus may have been the cause of the first outbreak in Wuhan, which was originally associated with the seafood market, from imported foods.
Beijing argues that the cause of the first outbreak remains a mystery, which may not have occurred in China-this claim has been fiercely controversial by countries from the United States to Australia.
The Foreign Ministry also highlighted a conspiracy theory earlier this year that the US military may have brought the virus to Wuhan last year.
