China links Covid-19 flare-up in key port city to cold-chain foods

BEIJING • China has linked the Covid-19 outbreak in Dalian, a major port city that has become the country's latest hot spot, to cold-chain foods and the authorities are stepping up scrutiny of imported products.

The north-eastern city is battling the biggest flare-up in the country's current coronavirus wave, and has placed tens of thousands of university students under lockdown.

The first identified case was linked to a cold-storage facility and several other infections were reported among employees in the cold-chain industry, local media said, adding that this is the city's third cold-chain-related outbreak.

Dalian is an important cold-chain storage and transportation base, handling about 70 per cent of China's total imported cold-chain products.

Cities across the country have stepped up investigation of cold-chain foods from Dalian in recent days. Malls and food firms were asked to suspend sales and conduct nucleic acid tests on these products immediately, said the state-backed newspaper Global Times.

China says the virus can persist in conditions found in cold-chain food and packaging, and the authorities have been testing imported meat and seafood.

The international health authorities have downplayed the likelihood of such transmission, with the World Health Organisation and the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention saying the chance of getting Covid-19 from frozen food is very low.

"There is still controversy about the scientific merits of the coronavirus being transmitted in cold-chain products, but from a practical perspective, it doesn't matter," said Mr Darin Friedrichs, senior Asian commodity analyst at StoneX in Shanghai. "Chinese officials and scientists believe it is possible and poses a real threat, and they are going to take action."

The cold-chain scrutiny in Dalian could hit European and United States seafood markets ahead of the year-end holiday season, given that China is a major processing and re-export hub, Mr Friedrichs said. It could also have logistics implications outside of cold chain, spurring issues at ports that handle bulk cargo and further disrupting global freight markets.

China has a cumulative total of 110,773 cases with 4,849 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

BLOOMBERG