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The local government of Xiamen, China, recently ordered municipal workers to test both fishermen and their catch, including “live fish” and crabs, for the Chinese coronavirus out of alleged concern that international fishing activity in the area may have sparked local outbreaks of the virus, the Chinese government-controlled news outlet Sixth Tone reported Thursday.
“[L] Local authorities have confirmed that they are testing for the virus in fish. Sixth Tone was confirmed Thursday by an employee of the Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Ocean Development. He said that performing COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] tests on seafood is a common practice, especially since an outbreak of the virus in the island province of Hainan,” the news website reported August 18.
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Recently, online footage has been circulated of Xiamen workers swabbing crabs and fish for the Chinese coronavirus.
Radio Free Asia’s Chinese-language Twitter account posted one such clip on August 18 with the following caption:
Taihai.com reported that in Jimei District, Xiamen, fishermen have to carry out nucleic acid testing once a day during their operations. The fishermen, along with their catch, must undergo the same nucleic acid test when they arrive at the shore.
A staff member of Xiamen Ocean Development Bureau told reporters on the 17th, “At present, all members of Xiamen City need nucleic acid, and the fish must also undergo nucleic acid.”
A disease control worker wearing protective suit collects samples from imported cold-chain fish for COVID-19 testing on August 11, 2021 in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province of China. (Wang Chun/VCG via Getty Images)
Xiamen, a port city on China’s southeastern coastline is located directly across Taiwan Strait. Taiwan, the sovereign nation and island of Taiwan is located at the intersection of East China Seas and South China Seas. This makes the region an important hub for maritime and international trade as well as fishing.
“Experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in an interview with state television in July that fish do not get infected by COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus], but can be contaminated with it during the catch, transportation, or processing. This is most often found on the surface,” Sixth Tone stated on Thursday.
“There is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to people,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states on its website in a bulletin last updated on July 5.
The U.S. CDC has the following to say about the “low” chance of human-to-animal transmission of the Chinese coronavirus.
There have been a few reports of infected mammalian animals spreading the virus to people during close contact, but this is rare. This includes farmed mink from Europe and America, white-tailed Deer in Canada, and pet hamsters and cats in Hong Kong. In most of these cases, the animals were known to be first infected by a person who had COVID-19.
It’s important to remember that people are much more likely to get COVID-19 from other people than from animals. SARS-CoV-2 infected animals do not need to be killed or any other form of harm.
There is the possibility of the virus infecting animals and becoming mutated, which could lead to a spread among humans (known as spillback). To track variations and mutations, and understand the spread of SARS-CoV-2 between humans and animals, more surveillance and studies are required.
China’s central government has previously claimed on several occasions that local outbreaks of the Chinese coronavirus — which originated in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 — in Beijing and other cities were allegedly traced to imported frozen food items and air-transported mail carrying the virus.
“In most situations, the risk of infection from touching a surface is low,” according to a U.S. CDC bulletin last updated in November 2021.
“The virus that causes COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] can land on surfaces. People can become infected by touching surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.” The U.S. health agency stated.
