The concern that the coronavirus could be transported via frozen food has once again risen in China, now that some positive samples of seafood were detected in the port of Qingdao. Two workers unloading the conditioned cargo have been infected. This was reported yesterday by the Qingdao Health and Health Commission.

A batch of imported products was tested after two workers involved with the shipment got infected. A total of 1,440 samples that were transported in conditioned containers were collected and submitted for inspection, and various positive samples have been detected positive. The products had not yet entered the market.

On 24 September, two loading and unloading workers were found to be infected with a new type of coronavirus during a routine inspection among the staff, carried out by Qingdao Port. The routine inspection was carried 16 days earlier and proved negative. A week earlier, one of the workers had loaded and unloaded frozen seafood imported from abroad. This led the authorities to carry out the inspection of the cargo handled.

Background

In June this year, the assumption that the coronavirus was imported via salmon arose in China, after a new strain of the coronavirus was found on cutting boards for imported salmon at Xinfadi market. Beijing then reported 36 new domestically transmitted cases, all having direct or indirect links to the wholesale market.

At the same time, the assumption was contested, Fish in their natural habitat cannot catch coronavirus, was explained by Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “However, they can be contaminated by workers during capture or transportation.”