Norwegian salmon not source of COVID-19 at Beijing food market, says Norway

Norwegian and Chinese authorities found no evidence to establish Norwegian salmon, which was found on the cutting boards in Beijing food market, as the source of the novel coronavirus. Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, Norway’s Minister of Fisheries and Seafood, said in a statement that infection control experts from both the countries found it highly unlikely transmission of the virus via salmon.

Reports of the virus found on cutting board at Xinfadi market in the Chinese capital triggered speculations around the source of the Coronavirus. Amid the recent resurgence in coronavirus cases in Beijing, supermarkets promptly removed salmon from their shelves which affected the exports of the fish from the Nordic country.

Ingebrigtsen said that the conclusion on virus source will hopefully restore the export of Norwegian salmon to China. He added that the government, along with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the industry are doing whatever possible to help restore export Norwegian salmon back to normal.

Quoting Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the country's Food Safety Authority said that there are no known cases of infection via contaminated food, imported food, or water. It added that infection via food and water is considered unlikely based on current knowledge of coronaviruses and, therefore, fish and seafood products from Norway are safe to eat.

“Together with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority carefully monitors and evaluates all new knowledge about the outbreak of coronavirus,” said the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

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Origin of virus

The origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not known but preliminary studies suggested that bats could be the source since coronavirus present in bats has a genome that is 96 per cent identical to the novel coronavirus. It is believed that the wildlife market in Wuhan caused the virus to transmit through another host, possibly pangolin, because the bat coronavirus cannot bind to receptors in human cells, however, there has not been any concrete evidence.

According to a recent study published in Science Advances, the novel coronavirus first infected both the bats and pangolins, and then the pathogens jumped to human beings. The researchers said that it is too early to blame the pangolins for coronavirus outbreak and they believe that a third species of an animal might have played host to the virus.

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