Chinese longshoremen who caught coronavirus from unloading frozen fish from Russia

• Direct.Latest news about the coronavirus in Spain

• Health.China detects traces of coronavirus in frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil

It all started in the port of Qingdao, a city on China's east coast famous for its beer festival and for its German colonial heritage, reflected in the low, colorful houses in the land of gray skyscrapers.

After the health authorities carried out

tests

, two of them tested

occurred on September 24.

Both longshoremen, Chen and Deng, were

.

But the news was that their cases were about

History of coronavirus in other foods

This is not the first time that Chinese authorities have found traces of coronavirus in imported frozen foods.

Although, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)

, the possibility of contracting the coronavirus through food is very low.

For other health authorities such as the US Food and Drug Administration,

direct

.

"There is nothing to suggest that handling or consuming food is associated with Covid-19. It is known that the main route that the virus takes from person to person is by sneezing, coughing, talking or even breathing," they said in August from the States On the other hand,

discovered by Chinese researchers, such as those from Qingdao fish that link to infections from longshoremen, has prompted China to launch a battle against frozen products imported from countries that are now being hit by Covid-19 this week, after what happened with the longshoremen,

of countries "suffering severe coronavirus outbreaks."

As indicated in a statement by the Municipal Commerce Office: "Customs and local governments have repeatedly detected the coronavirus in imported food from the cold chain, which shows that there is a risk of contamination."

First signs of food contamination

The first time people heard about food contaminated by the virus was last June in Beijing

, in the largest food market in the capital, which occupies the area of ​​almost 160 football fields.

A new outbreak left the market and left 331 infections.

The

He said they found traces of coronavirus in environmental samples they took from the market and that, thanks to genome sequencing, it was a European strain.

The most detailed information that emerged was that one of the sites where the pathogen was detected was a fish cutting board used by an imported salmon seller. In August, the coronavirus was detected in a surface sample taken from a batch of chicken wings.

that arrived from Brazil during the review of imported frozen foods in the city of Shenzhen, in the south of the country.

Shortly after, in the town of Wuhu, they found remains of the virus RNA in a package of shrimp imported from Ecuador.

The same happened with other packages of shellfish sent from Latin America to the Chinese provinces of Anhui, Shaanxi and Shandong. "But

, which can leave behind fragments of its genetic material even after it has been destroyed.

This may mean that only the signature that the virus has been there at some point is detected, "he explained to the

Brandon Ogbunu, a biologist and geneticist at Yale University.

"It would take

to

so that the virus is transmitted through a frozen product.

Depending on where the virus originated, you would have to endure a journey across a continent in a frozen state, probably melting and refreezing at least once along the way, and then encountering someone's bare hands, who right after he would end up touching his nose or mouth, "said Dr. Ogbunu. In the past three months,

, which have positive cases among their employees, from at least 19 countries.

A few days ago, the General Administration of Customs of the Asian country announced "emergency precautionary measures" against a Norwegian company after a package of frozen seafood tested positive after analysis of samples.

It also suspended an Indonesian producer after his batch of tail fish had traces of the virus. This Tuesday, the

The Asian country has reported

.

The number of asymptomatic patients, who are not counted as confirmed cases in China, rose to 26 from 14 reported the day before.

In total, China adds 85,384 infections and 4,634 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

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