Ports in East China's Shandong Province takes stricter measures over cold-chain transportation, after two asymptomatic patients related to imported frozen seafood were discovered in Shandong's Qingdao. Photo: VCG

Ports in East China's Shandong Province will take stricter measures over cold-chain transportation, after two asymptomatic patients related to imported frozen seafood were discovered in Shandong's Qingdao port, media reported on Sunday. 

Local authorities announced on Saturday the initiation of emergency plans and implementation of testing for all 20,000 staff at the port, in response to the resurgence of coronavirus at a port in Shandong's coastal city of Qingdao on Thursday. 

All local ports will suspend the loading of imported cold-chain food carried by bulk cargo ships. Staff directly handling cold-chain operations will have regular records kept and take nucleic acid tests every 14 days. 

Shandong will also coordinate with health departments and customs to monitor cold-chain product transportation and its close contacts. 

For international sea cargo arriving at ports, crew will receive virus testing every 14 days, or every seven days if the cargo is from high-risk areas. 

Two workers who offloaded imported seafood at Qingdao port were found to be asymptomatic patients on Thursday, the local health authority said. A total of 147 close contacts were quarantined for medical observation, and all tested negative for coronavirus. 

The suspect seafood was imported from two Russian ships. China Customs announced on Saturday that coronavirus had been found on the outer packaging and samples of the products, which were immediately sealed. Out of the 1,440 samples tested, 51 tested positive, local authorities said.