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Covid test for fish and more, so China continues the war on the virus

2 years ago babelfish

Covid test for fish and more, so China continues the war on the virus

Severe lockdowns and swabs are no longer enough for China, now Covid tests on animals are also returning, in particular on fish, believed to be the vehicle of the virus. Contagions, however, continue to grow, the economy is suffering and Beijing also takes the opportunity to punish the rebel Taiwan

The paranoia of China's zero Covid strategy has no limits and after the panic scenes seen a few days ago in an Ikea store in Shanghai, fish tests are now arriving to stem the infections.

INFECTIONS ARE GROWING …

Despite the continuous lockdowns that paralyze the most populous country in the world, Covid cases in China continue to increase. After the 2,888 of Tuesday 16 August, yesterday – with 3,424 infections – the highest number for three months was reached.

… BUT NOT THE ECONOMY

However, the rigid zero Covid strategy, in addition to not giving results from a health point of view, is costing Beijing a lot on an economic level. As noted by several analysts, SkyTg24 wrote at the beginning of the month, "GDP grew by just 0.4%, well below the forecast of around 1%, and slowing sharply from 4.8% in the first quarter" .

COVID TESTS TO FISH AND FISHERMEN

This week, after 40 cases were recorded, the coastal city of Xiamen tested Covid for more than five million people.

However, it was not enough to contain the concern and the district committee of Jimei Maritime Pandemic Control of the city, reports Agenpress , has issued a notice in which it states the need to swab both fishermen returning to port and the fruit of their work. immediately after the daily landing.

Local news broadcasts showed officials and operators in protective suits swabbing live fish and crabs, causing web fibrillation:

The reason, writes theGuardian , would be that "some fishermen had made illegal trade or contacts with overseas vessels while they were at sea, resulting in the importation of the coronavirus." But according to the British newspaper "no trace of the virus has been detected".

NOT THE FIRST TIME

While it may sound bizarre, this isn't the first time live animals have been tested. In June 2020, AgenPress recalls, one of the outbreaks in Beijing sparked a salmon panic and the month before the official media had released footage of a hippo being tested in the Huzhou Wildlife Park saying it needed to be tested twice a week.

Last April in Shanghai, a city repeatedly hit by severe lockdowns, tests were carried out on both fish at the market and on pigs and in November the country suspended imports of frozen food products.

FEAR FOR THE MARKET

The version that the virus spread due to the spillover, or a jump in species, has never been confirmed, but the fear that the animals sold on the market could be a vehicle of contagion is still real. Not surprisingly, two years ago, it was the market that became the first suspected place for the outbreak of the pandemic.

THE HAINAN EPIDEMIC

The anxiety that has spread to Xiamen seems to have been the consequence of what is happening about 1,200 km from there, on the island of Hainan, considered the Chinese Hawaii. The Hainan epidemic, according to SkyTg24 , has become the largest in the country since Shanghai closed in the spring.

And according to AgenPress , Hainan province has recorded more than 10,000 cases since the beginning of August, and authorities said they believe this outbreak is likely related to the fishing community.

An employee of the Xiamen Municipal Ocean Development Bureau told the South China Morning Post : “We have been taking lessons from Hainan, which is witnessing a major epidemic. It is said that it could be triggered by marine product transactions between local fishermen and their overseas counterparts ”.

With the cases concentrated in the tourist city of Sanya, the infections found in the island of Hainan were 614, with 2,810 asymptomatic carriers, according to data released on Thursday 18 August by the National Health Commission.

Thousands of tourists are still blocked on the island, many of whom have started to protest against the severe lockdown measures imposed.

BUSINESS RETORTION?

Zero Covid policy aside, the fear that animals could be vehicles for the virus could still be a weapon for the Chinese government which, taking advantage of the situation, decided – coincidence, right after the visit of the speaker of the US House Nancy Pelosi – to suspend the export of some products from Taiwan from 3 August, claiming to have found bacteria in the country's fish products and pesticides in imported citrus fruits.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/test-covid-ai-pesci-e-non-solo-cosi-la-cina-continua-la-guerra-al-virus/ on Fri, 19 Aug 2022 09:06:53 +0000.