China finds living Coronavirus on imported frozen food packaging in Qingdao

The finding was made in the city of Qingdao, which this week registered a dozen cases of the disease in a hospital that treats people arriving from abroad.

The pathogen was found in food packaging in the coastal city of Qingdao in Shandong province, according to the report, without specifying the origin of the product.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday confirmed the detection and isolation of living novel coronavirus on the outer packaging of imported frozen cod in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao.

Qingdao has reported a dozen new COVID-19 cases this month, most related to a hospital where infected travelers from abroad are being treated.

China has stated on several occasions in recent months that imported refrigerated products are risks to reintroduce the new coronavirus in the country.

They had previously analyzed the packaging of products from various countries and found samples of the pathogen. It then banned imported items, such as seafood from Indonesia and chicken wings from Brazil, after testing positive on shipping containers and food packaging.

A total of 2.98 million samples had been tested across the country's 24 provincial-level regions by September 15, including 670,000 taken from cold-chain food or food packagings, 1.24 million from working staff and 1.07 million from the environment.

Only 22 samples from cold-chain food or food packagings tested positive for the virus, the China CDC said.