China bars seafood imports from India over COVID-19

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – China has barred imports of seafood products from India, state-run media reported on Friday.

China's General Administration of Customs has said the move has come after COVID-19 infection was “found on the outer packaging of some samples of the frozen cuttlefish”, Chinese daily Global Times reported.

The suspension in imports will last for at least one week from Friday.

COVID-19 infection was also found on the packaging of one batch of imported frozen beef in Liangshan county in East China's Shandong province.

The beef was coming from another Chinese city.

Over the past two days, China reported at least three more cases of COVID-19 in imported cold chain food products.

The virus was detected on the packaging of imported pork and beef as well recently.

China’s General Administration of Customs officials said: “The customs will further enhance the inspection of cold-chain imported foods in a bid to prevent the risk of imported coronavirus infections.”

The authorities have communicated with 109 countries that export cold-chain food products to China regarding safety measures.

It said 140 cold-chain food producers from 50 countries have been inspected and “22 companies have been dealt with regarding unqualified products”.

There have been over 25 coronavirus cases detected in imported food cold chains since the first case was found in July, mostly from major frozen food-exporting countries including Ecuador, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, and Norway.

According to a statement by China’s National Health Commission, the country reported eight new imported cases of COVID-19.

China has reported 3,662 cases of imported infections with no deaths.

The country has reported total of 86,307 confirmed coronavirus cases including 4,634 deaths since the outbreak of the disease last December.