Frozen fish Photo: Xinhua

China reported 5 new cases of coronavirus-contaminated cold-chain imports on Wednesday. Two Indian frozen butterfish packages, one Russian frozen salmon packaging sample, and two Argentina frozen beef samples tested positive for COVID-19.

The batch of Indian butterfish entered the country at Fuzhou port in East China's Fujian province. A total of 2,500 packages were transported to a cold storage facility on Sunday. 

According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC), 2,117 pieces are still in stock, and 383 pieces have been sold. All related goods have been sealed up and have not entered the terminal market.

Also on Wednesday, China's General Administration of Customs announced that a nucleic acid test on one frozen salmon packaging sample imported from Russia came back positive.

The same day, Xiamen reported that two packages of Argentine beef samples were tested positive for COVID-19. This batch of imported beef has not reached the market yet. The porters, transport drivers and relevant contacts of the frozen beef have been quarantined for medical observation and given nucleic acid tests, which came back negative.

In accordance with the provisions, customs authorities will suspend seafood products from the related Russian fishing boat (registered number CH-075) for one week.

China earlier reported two cases of coronavirus-contaminated imported frozen products on Sunday, one in Sishui, East China's Shandong Province, and the other in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, pushing the number of cold-chain virus contaminations to at least 10 provincial regions in the country since June.

The 109 products linked to infected pork imported from Argentina in Xi'an were sealed off before they could enter the consumer market, with 18 close contacts traced and put under medical observation, all of whom have returned negative nucleic acid test results.

Since June, more than 10 provinces and cities including Beijing, Liaoning, Anhui, Fujian and Jiangxi have discovered coronavirus-positive samples taken from imported frozen food or food packaging.

Liangshan county in East China's Shandong Province on Friday reported that packaging from one batch of imported frozen beef tested positive for the virus. Central China's Wuhan also reported that it had found coronavirus on imported beef.  

In a bid to minimize the potential contamination risks, Chinese Customs held talks with all 109 countries that export frozen food to China and announced it would suspend declarations from companies that are suffering from virus infections among its staff, CCTV News reported on Saturday.

Three batches of beef imported from Brazil have been found to carry coronavirus on their inner packaging in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi Province, local authorities said on Tuesday. The 20 beef products in question were sealed off before they could enter the market.

The announcement involves 99 companies from 20 countries. 

The move came after the State Council's issuance of guidelines on cold-chain food disinfection on November 9, which regulate that imported frozen products must be traceable and receive closed-loop management throughout the entire process.