Imports may carry virus: health expert

Dalian residents must test before leaving the city amid cluster infection

“Although the virus lives longer in cold chains, we cannot rule out the possibility that the virus is still alive after the imported products arrive in China.”

Chinese health experts warned that packages from abroad, such as food and drugs, may contain coronavirus regardless of whether they were transported in cold chain, and enhance viral tests of imported products at all ports are necessary after Northeast China’s coastal city Dalian reported a new COVID-19 cluster linked to a seafood processing company.

Dalian, which declared a “wartime mode,” asked residents not to leave the city, and that those who intend to leave must provide negative nucleic acid test results within seven days before traveling, the Dalian health commission said.

The city recorded nine COVID-19 cases from Thursday until 3 pm on Friday, as well as 27 asymptomatic ones, after a 58-year-old man working at a seafood processing company tested positive on Wednesday, breaking the city’s record of no COVID-19 cases for 111 days.

The health commission said on Friday that most cases in the fresh outbreak were largely linked to the Dalian Kaiyang Seafood Company.

All the seafood company’s stores have been closed in Dalian, and the Global Times reporter found that the company’s online stores in several e-commerce platforms also suspended business on Friday, and all products were removed from its shelves.

Although the source of the virus was still unknown, Dalian’s new cluster has triggered public concerns over the safety of imported products.

Jin Dongyan, a professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Hong Kong, told the Global Times that it’s possible that imported products, including drugs and food, carried coronavirus on their packages.

Although the virus lives longer in cold chains compared to

Jin Dongyan a professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Hong Kong warmer conditions, we cannot rule out the possibility that the virus is still alive after the imported products arrive in China, Jin said.

Thousands of employees at meat processing companies in the US and Europe have been infected with coronavirus since April, and employees of British retailer Marks & Spencer in Hong Kong were found infected in April, triggering concerns that food imported from the UK may bring virus to Hong Kong.

Jin suggested that the General Administration of Customs further step up tests on imported products.