China, which still adamantly claims it isn't the source of COVID-19, blames frozen food imported from other countries for causing the current outbreak in Hebei province that remains uncontrolled.
China is the only country that claims COVID-19 can be transmitted via cold chain imports, an allegation the World Health Organization (WHO) has consistently debunked.
Dr. Ma Xiaowei, 1st Minister in charge of the National Health Commission (NHC), on Saturday claimed the recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Hebei and other provinces in the northeast came from contaminated frozen food imports and foreigners entering the country.
Ma also said SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the virus that causes COVID-19, is now spreading to rural areas. He said the handling of the worrying surge had exposed the unwise relaxation of prevention and control measures.
"Since Dec. 2020, epidemic clusters have occurred in Beijing, Sichuan, Liaoning, Hebei and Heilongjiang," said Ma.
"They mainly have the following characteristics. Firstly, they are all imported from abroad, caused by travelers from overseas, or contaminated cold-chain imported items."
Ma said the growing Hebei outbreak had spread quicjly and widely due to activities such as wedding banquets or large group gatherings. He admitted Hebei health authorities were having difficulties controlling the outbreak as community transmission had already occurred when cases were discovered.
The outbreak forced China to place 28 million people in Hebei and surrounding provinces under lockdown, according to Ma. China reports scant progress in curbing the outbreak in Hebei in the most severe surge since China brought the coronavirus under control in July 2020.
WHO asserts there is currently no evidence people can catch COVID-19 from food or food packaging.
"COVID-19 is a respiratory illness and the transmission route is through person-to-person contact and through direct contact with respiratory droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes," said WHO in an explanation on its website.
WHO also affirms coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 "cannot multiply in food -- they need a live animal or human host to multiply and survive."
Over the past week, China has seen the number of daily cases jump to its highest since March 2020. China reported 130 new coronavirus cases on Friday compared to 144 cases a day earlier.
Of the Friday cases, 115 were local infections and of this number, 90 were in Hebei, which is the hardest hit in the winter surge. Two cases were confirmed in Beijing, which lies at the center of Hebei.
NHC said 23 other cases were reported in northeastern Heilongjiang province on Friday along with 79 new asymptomatic patients. There were 66 asymptomatic patients on Thursday. China does not classify asymptomatic patients as confirmed COVID-19 cases.
