COVID-19 Outbreak Caused by Contaminated Packaging of Imported Cold-Chain Products - Liaoning Province, China, July 2020

Huilai Ma; Jianqun Zhang; Ji Wang; Ying Qin; Cao Chen; Yang Song; Liang Wang; Jun Meng; Lingling Mao; Fengqin Li; Ning Li; Jian Cai; Yong Zhang; Dayan Wang; Yunting Xia; Hong Wang; Shaofeng Jiang; Xiang Zhao; Peihua Niu; Wenjie Tan; Tao Ma; Yecheng Yao; Naiying Mao; Zhen Zhu; Tianjiao Ji; Qian Yang; Baoying Huang; Li Zhao; Jianxing Yu; Li Bai; Shuangli Zhu; Dongyan Wang; Yan Zhang; Yingwei Sun; Mingchun Luan; Yanhai Wang; Haibo Sun; Shihong Yang; Zhijian Bo; Xiang Ren; Zhongjie Li; George Fu Gao; Wei Yao; Wenqing Yao; Zijian Feng; Wenbo Xu

doi:10.46234/ccdcw2021.114

COVID-19 Outbreak Caused by Contaminated Packaging of Imported Cold-Chain Products - Liaoning Province, China, July 2020

China CDC Wkly. 2021 May 21;3(21):441-447. doi: 10.46234/ccdcw2021.114.

Authors

Huilai Ma¹, Jianqun Zhang², Ji Wang³, Ying Qin¹, Cao Chen³, Yang Song³, Liang Wang^{1

4}, Jun Meng², Lingling Mao⁵, Fengqin Li⁶, Ning Li⁶, Jian Cai^{1

7}, Yong Zhang³, Dayan Wang³, Yunting Xia⁸, Hong Wang³, Shaofeng Jiang⁹, Xiang Zhao³, Peihua Niu³, Wenjie Tan³, Tao Ma^{1

10}, Yecheng Yao¹¹, Naiying Mao³, Zhen Zhu³, Tianjiao Ji³, Qian Yang³, Baoying Huang³, Li Zhao³, Jianxing Yu¹, Li Bai⁶, Shuangli Zhu³, Dongyan Wang³, Yan Zhang³, Yingwei Sun⁵, Mingchun Luan², Yanhai Wang³, Haibo Sun⁵, Shihong Yang², Zhijian Bo², Xiang Ren¹, Zhongjie Li¹, George Fu Gao¹, Wei Yao², Wenqing Yao⁵, Zijian Feng¹, Wenbo Xu³

Affiliations

¹ Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
² Dalian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
³ National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
⁴ Chengdu Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
⁵ Liaoning Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
⁶ China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Beijing, China.
⁷ Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
⁸ National Center for Rural Water Supply Technical Guidance, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
⁹ National Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
¹⁰ Nanjing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
¹¹ National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.

Abstract

What is known about this topic?

Few major outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have occurred in China after major non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccines have been deployed and implemented. However, sporadic outbreaks that had high possibility to be linked to cold chain products were reported in several cities of China..

What is added by this report?

In July 2020, a COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Dalian, China. The investigations of this outbreak strongly suggested that the infection source was from COVID-19 virus-contaminated packaging of frozen seafood during inbound unloading personnel contact.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Virus contaminated paper surfaces could maintain infectivity for at least 17-24 days at -25 ℃. Exposure to COVID-19 virus-contaminated surfaces is a potential route for introducing the virus to a susceptible population. Countries with no domestic transmission of COVID-19 should consider introducing prevention strategies for both inbound travellers and imported goods. Several measures to prevent the introduction of the virus via cold-chain goods can be implemented.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2-contaminated packaging; imported cold-chain products; outbreak.

Copyright and License information: Editorial Office of CCDCW, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2021.

Grants and funding

The National Key Research and Development Project, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (2021YFC0863000, 2018ZX10713002, and 2020YFC0846900), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.72042012, and No. 82041032) and National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2017ZX10104001)