Are Salmon Guilty or Not? Diverging Opinions on Beijing's COVID-19 Spread

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Beijing=Correspondent Sunmi Park] As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Beijing surpasses 100, opinions differ on where the virus transmission began.

Beijing city and disease control authorities announced on the 12th that the COVID-19 virus was detected on a cutting board used for slicing imported salmon at the Xinfadi wholesale agricultural and aquatic products market, but they have yet to identify a clear source of the virus infection. Chinese experts believe that salmon cannot directly transmit the virus, but there is debate over whether the current spread of infection is due to contaminated salmon or infected staff within the market.

Wu Junyu, chief infectious disease expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview with the People's Daily, "It is possible that frozen seafood or meat handled by a person infected with COVID-19 became contaminated and transmitted the virus to others," adding, "Alternatively, the infected person may have spread the virus to the area itself through sneezing or other means."

He explained, "There is no direct evidence that salmon is the cause of this outbreak," and "Finding the virus on the cutting board used for salmon does not tell us much."

Yang Zanzhu, a professor at the Wuhan University School of Medicine's Virology Research Institute and an expert in infectious diseases in China, also mentioned in an interview with Chinese media that there is no need to halt salmon imports. He stated, "Virus analysis results provide clear evidence that the source of infection was introduced from overseas. It is highly likely that seafood or meat was exposed to the virus during packaging and transportation before being imported into China. The COVID-19 virus does not infect fish. There is no possibility that salmon acts as an intermediate host."

Jin Dongyan, a professor at the Hong Kong University School of Biomedical Sciences, said, "The possibility that live salmon was infected with the virus is excluded," and explained, "The likelihood that salmon serves as a vector for virus transmission is very low. We must consider that the cutting board used for salmon may have also been used for other types of meat. Contamination could have occurred during this process. It is also possible that an infected person used the cutting board and contaminated it."

However, Beijing city has suspended imports of European salmon after detecting virus gene sequences from Europe at the Xinfadi market. Salmon has disappeared from supermarket and shopping mall displays in Beijing, and Japanese restaurants have seen a sharp decline in customers. As concerns about salmon safety have arisen, markets and supermarkets across China, including Hangzhou and Chengdu, have consecutively stopped selling salmon.

As salmon imports have been successively halted in Beijing and other regions, the global salmon market faces a contraction crisis. This is because China depends on imports for 85% of its salmon sales.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Beijing has risen to 106 as of today. Since a cluster infection occurred at the largest agricultural and aquatic products wholesale market, it has been difficult to trace the transmission route, and all communities in Beijing are responding in a state of emergency.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.