Dragon fruits Photo: VCG

A sample taken from the outer packaging of imported dragon fruits on Thursday tested weak positive for COVID-19 in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, during a regular nucleic acid check, after similar cases were found in several other Chinese cities.

The agricultural product distribution center where the case was found has been put under control and a round of nucleic acid tests will be conducted on all the working staff involved, the local authorities said on Thursday.

The case found in Zhejiang also triggered netizens' attention online. The topic has gained over 81 million reads on Chinese social media Sina Weibo, with many saying they would be more cautious when choosing imported fruits.

Similar cases were also found in other Chinese cities. Shouxian county in East China's Anhui Province on Tuesday reported a case involving the outer packaging of imported dragon fruit which tested positive for COVID-19. 

The local authorities have put seven direct contacts of the goods and another 23 secondary contacts into centralized quarantine, whose nucleic acid tests returned negative, the authorities said on Wednesday.

The supermarket involved in the case suspended operations and a comprehensive disinfection has been conducted. The related fruits and other products have all been sealed and dealt with in a proper manner.

In Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi Province, 50 boxes of dragon fruits imported from Vietnam arrived, with some of the goods and the outside packaging testing positive for coronavirus. Between December 7 and 16, all the goods were sold out, Taiyuan authorities said on December 26. All five close contacts tested negative for the virus and the six samples selected from the supermarket and other sites involved all returned negative results on December 25.

Similar cases were also reported in Central China's Hubei and Henan provinces recently. The authorities required residents who purchased fruits related to the epidemic to voluntarily report and undergo self-health observation and nucleic tests in a timely manner.