China blames virus on packaging
Medical world beyond skeptical of reasoning
BEIJING — Chinese state media say parcels mailed from overseas may have spread the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Beijing and elsewhere, despite doubts among overseas health experts that the virus can be transmitted via packaging.
The State Post Bureau said it has ordered stronger measures to ventilate and disinfect sites where items mailed from overseas are handled.
Postal workers must wear protective equipment, receive booster shots and undergo regular testing, it said on its website. International packages must be isolated, cleaned and held for a waiting period to ensure they are free from the virus, it said.
Global health experts say the virus mainly spreads through respiratory droplets when infected people breathe, speak, cough and sneeze.
The World Health Organization says coronaviruses “need a live animal or human host to multiply and survive and cannot multiply on the surface of food packages.”
China has locked down parts of Beijing’s Haidian district following the detection of four cases, just weeks before the capital is to host the Winter Olympic Games.
Another person in the southern technology hub of Shenzhen who tested positive for omicron handled packages sent from North America, the newspaper said.
An additional case was reported in the city’s Chaoyang district, and an office building in Shunyi, where the capital’s main international airport is located, was placed under lockdown with all inside required to undergo testing after a suspected case was reported.
Local schools in Beijing have mostly been moved online in the two weeks before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday on Jan. 31.
China remains on high alert for new outbreaks ahead of the Olympics. Around 20 million people are under lockdown and mass testing has been ordered in entire cities where cases have been discovered.
Meanwhile, Chinese leaders are under pressure to boost slumping economic growth.
The world’s second-largest economy grew by 8.1 percent last year, but activity fell abruptly in the second half as the ruling Communist Party forced China’s vast real estate industry to cut surging debt, official data showed Monday.