sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Cold-chain food contamination as the possible origin of Covid-19 resurgence in Beijing
Xinghuo Pang, Lili Ren, Shuangsheng Wu, Wentai Ma, Jian Yang, Lin Di, Jie Li, Yan Xiao, Lu Kang, Shichang Du ... Show more
Author Notes
National Science Review, nwaa264, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaa264
Published:
23 October 2020
snip
Given the abovementioned facts, we speculate that the Covid-19 resurgence in Beijing was likely to be initiated by an environment-to-human transmission originated from contaminated imported food via cold-chain logistics. Notably, a recent study found that SARS-CoV-2 showed no decline in infectivity after 21 days at 4 ℃ and -20 ℃ on the surface of chicken, salmon, and pork pieces [9], indicating that the survival period and transmission distance of the virus could be prolonged by cold-chain transportation of contaminated food.
Although it is unclear whether the viral load on the salmon is sufficient to establish an infection, the risk from the food and environment contamination exists [9,10]. Supply of the contaminated salmon and the exposure of early patients to booth #S14 both happened on May 30th, suggesting that co-exposure drove the very early stage of infection. Our finding is particularly important for countries where community transmissions are contained or suppressed. The virus could be reintroduced via cold-chain transportation of contaminated items and might initiate an outbreak.
Even with low probability, such viral transmission would cause large scale outbreaks if not being intervened immediately after the first cases. Regional guidelines on Covid-19 prevention and control should integrate surveillance of the cold-chain imported products, especially those from epidemic regions for the Covid-19.
https://watermark.silverchair.com/nw...FumO6y4fUngdeN
Xinghuo Pang, Lili Ren, Shuangsheng Wu, Wentai Ma, Jian Yang, Lin Di, Jie Li, Yan Xiao, Lu Kang, Shichang Du ... Show more
Author Notes
National Science Review, nwaa264, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaa264
Published:
23 October 2020
snip
Given the abovementioned facts, we speculate that the Covid-19 resurgence in Beijing was likely to be initiated by an environment-to-human transmission originated from contaminated imported food via cold-chain logistics. Notably, a recent study found that SARS-CoV-2 showed no decline in infectivity after 21 days at 4 ℃ and -20 ℃ on the surface of chicken, salmon, and pork pieces [9], indicating that the survival period and transmission distance of the virus could be prolonged by cold-chain transportation of contaminated food.
Although it is unclear whether the viral load on the salmon is sufficient to establish an infection, the risk from the food and environment contamination exists [9,10]. Supply of the contaminated salmon and the exposure of early patients to booth #S14 both happened on May 30th, suggesting that co-exposure drove the very early stage of infection. Our finding is particularly important for countries where community transmissions are contained or suppressed. The virus could be reintroduced via cold-chain transportation of contaminated items and might initiate an outbreak.
Even with low probability, such viral transmission would cause large scale outbreaks if not being intervened immediately after the first cases. Regional guidelines on Covid-19 prevention and control should integrate surveillance of the cold-chain imported products, especially those from epidemic regions for the Covid-19.
https://watermark.silverchair.com/nw...FumO6y4fUngdeN