The Chinese Postal Service ordered its workers to sterilize international postal parcels and urged citizens to reduce purchase orders from abroad, after the authorities claimed that the mail may be the source of the recent outbreak of Corona virus infections in China.
Al-Rai quoting AFP said China, which was the first country in which the virus appeared in late 2019, is following a strict policy aimed at recording zero infections despite the end of the closure in the rest of the world. But the country is now suffering from small outbreaks, even in the capital, Beijing, which is preparing to host the Winter Olympics.
In recent days, Chinese officials have suggested that some people may have contracted the virus after touching parcels from abroad including a woman in Beijing who the authorities said had not had contact with infected people, but was confirmed to have a mutant similar to the one circulating in North America.
The China Post Service issued a statement on Monday ordering workers to sterilize international parcels “as soon as possible” and also asking employees who handle foreign letters and parcels to receive booster doses of vaccine.
It also asked citizens to reduce purchases from “countries and regions with high epidemic risk abroad.” China is using strict local closures, mass testing and tracking applications for infected people to contain infections as soon as infections appear.
The CDC said that the effects of the virus on most surfaces disappear by 99 percent within three days, but that China is not ready to take any risks, especially before the Winter Olympics, which it hosts next month.
The Corona virus spreads through the mouth or nose of an infected person through the droplets that they release when they cough, sneeze, talk or breathe.
The World Health Organization, as well as the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), considered that the risk of infection through contaminated surfaces is low, and becomes less likely over time.
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