Coronavirus: Chinese health authorities discover virus contamination on seafood packages

Chinese health authorities in the eastern city of Qingdao have discovered coronavirus contamination on some of the packages stockpiled by the seafood importer after two of its employees were diagnosed positive with the virus without showing any symptoms. Amid the huge spread of the virus all over the world, China has beefed up its vigil on frozen food imports and banned its imports from foreign meat processing plants. The country detected its first local asymptomatic infections in more than a month as both the port workers were responsible for unloading frozen seafood tested positive. 

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First symptom-free infections

As per Bloomberg reports, the two cases were found in  Shandong province’s Qingdao city during a routine check-up of port workers. In addition, they were the first symptom-free infections that China has reported since August 20.  China hasn’t reported any local symptomatic infections since Aug. 15 either. The new cases in China have raised concerns among the authorities over whether imported products are infectious. As per reports, the traces of the virus have been found ion frozen, imported seafood and meat and their packaging, as well as the containers which were shipped.

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The local health commission in Qingdao reportedly said that 132 close contacts of two patients have been isolated and 129 among them have tested negative so far. Amid the growing number of coronavirus cases linked to cold storage and port workers, China has banned imports from plants in  Ecuador, Brazil, and Indonesia in recent weeks after finding virus on their products. 

According to The Scientist, there is growing evidence that food packaging is transporting SARS-CoV-2 across international borders. It added that several countries are linked to either exported or imported frozen food that tested positive for traces of the virus, but experts say they believe the risk of developing COVID-19 from handling these products remains extremely low. 

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Image: AP