Authorities in China have found strains of coronavirus on the packaging of imported frozen seafood that arrived from the port city of Dalian, which recently battled a surge of cases, a local government said on Tuesday.The virus was found on the outer packaging of frozen seafood bought by three companies in Yantai, a port city in eastern Shandong province.The Yantai city government said in a statement the seafood was from an imported shipment that landed at Dalian but did not say where it originated.
In July, customs officers in Dalian had found COVID-19 in the packaging of frozen shrimps imported from Ecuador. China had then suspended imports from three Ecuadorean shrimp producers. Some of the seafood that the three Yantai companies bought had been processed for export, while the rest had been kept in cold storage and has not entered the market, Reuters quoted a Yantai government statement.
The city government, however, declined to elaborate if any package has been exported yet.In late July, Dalian city had reported the first case working at a seafood processing company. By August 9, Dalian has reported a total of 92 cases.Authorities had sealed off the goods, the city government said. Everyone who handled the goods was under quarantine and have tested negative for the coronavirus, it said.The novel coronavirus is believed to have emerged in a wet market that sold seafood and wildlife in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.