[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon]Chinese health authorities recently stated that the first confirmed case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in Beijing may have been caused by contact with international mail.
According to Chinese media including Xinhua News on the 18th, the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press conference the previous day that they do not rule out the possibility that a Beijing resident diagnosed with the Omicron variant on the 15th was infected through overseas mail.
The center introduced that the infected person handled international mail during work, and that a positive test result was found on the international mail he received on the 11th. The center explained that the mail was sent from Canada on the 7th, passing through the United States and Hong Kong before arriving in Beijing.
The center also cited that the infected person had not left Beijing in the two weeks prior to symptom onset, that no one living or working with the infected person tested positive, and that genetic sequencing analysis showed a high similarity between this case and visitors from the United States and Singapore who were confirmed with Omicron infections last month.
Accordingly, Beijing's epidemic prevention authorities urged minimizing purchases of overseas goods from countries with strong COVID-19 spread and maintaining a safe distance from delivery personnel when receiving mail.
Amid controversies over the origin of COVID-19, Chinese experts have emphasized the possibility that the virus entered China at the end of 2019 through overseas cold chain products, but organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have assessed the likelihood of transmission via cold chains as low.
The WHO has stated, "For the coronavirus to reproduce and survive, a living animal or human host is necessary, and it cannot multiply on the surface of food packaging."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
