In recent weeks, China is facing a resurgence of cases in several cities
Shanghai:
China is advising people to wear masks and gloves when opening mail, especially from abroad, after authorities said the first case of the Omicron coronavirus strain was found in Beijing. may arrive via a package from Canada.
Authorities have vowed to step up the fumigation of mail from abroad and require postal workers who handle it to be fully vaccinated.
The precautions come less than three weeks before the capital opens the Winter Olympic Games and as several cities work to quell outbreaks of new coronavirus infections.
“Minimize buying goods abroad or receiving mail from abroad,” state broadcaster CCTV said late Monday in a social media post.
“Be sure to protect yourself during face-to-face deliveries and wear a mask and gloves; try to open packages outdoors.”
Health officials said the person found to be infected with the Omicron variant had opened a package from Canada that had been routed through the United States and Hong Kong, and that transmission by the package “cannot be ruled out”.
CCTV said the incident highlighted the importance of “personal defense”.
Similar recommendations on how to handle parcels, not just those from abroad, have been made by the National Health Commission on its official WeChat account and by the authorities in the cities of Shanghai and Nanjing reposted.
China made the exception in asserting that COVID-19 can be transmitted through cold-chain imports such as frozen meat and fish, although the World Health Organization has minimized the risk and released an article. reported in state media that the virus existed abroad before it was discovered in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan.
In recent weeks, China is facing a resurgence of cases in several cities, some of which are highly contagious Omicron variants. On Tuesday, it reported 127 new local cases with confirmed symptoms.
The State Postal Administration issued a notice on Monday stating that international mail must be disinfected after arriving in China, and staff handling and delivering international mail must be vaccinated against COVID-19 and repeat injection.
China Post has also reminded recipients of mail from abroad to disinfect content “in a timely manner” with parcel stickers.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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