China quarantines packages from abroad over COVID-19 fears

China has begun to impose 48-hour quarantines on packages coming from abroad for fear that they could spread the COVID-19 coronavirus, reports the local newspaper Global Times.

The Air Mail Processing Center in the Chinese capital processes 120,000 packages coming from abroad every day, which, after two rounds of disinfection, go to a ventilated room where they remain for 24 hours.

The entire process takes about 48 hours, according to the Global Times newspaper, which also states that all employees in contact with the packages must have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, in addition to wearing a mask and gloves.

The Chinese capital thus extends its quarantine requirements to logistics to protect itself in the face of the Winter Olympics that it will host from February 4.

Since March 2020, China has been closed to tourism and only domestic travelers and some foreigners with valid residence permits can access.

Upon arrival, all of them are expected to be quarantined for at least 14 days, depending on the city in which they land, in a hotel paid for by themselves and designated by the authorities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, China has blamed packages from abroad, especially frozen ones, for some outbreaks in the country, to which it has responded by temporarily suspending imports of products in which it detected traces of coronavirus.

According to the World Health Organization, there is no evidence that the coronavirus can be transmitted through food and the probability of being infected through a package, frozen or not, is “very low”.

According to the accounts of the National Health Commission of China, since the beginning of the pandemic, 98,505 people have been infected in the country, among which 92,818 have managed to heal and 4,636 died.