These announcements recall the time when everyone polished their shopping on their way back from the supermarket, for fear that the Covid-19 had lodged there. While a study published last February in the scientific journal The Lancet confirmed that contamination by surfaces or objects is not “not even measurable” as it is minimal, the Chinese Post has just ordered its employees to systematically disinfect shipments from abroad. The authorities evoke the hypothesis of the arrival in the country of the Omicron strain on mail sent from Canada.
According to the city of Beijing, a first case of the highly contagious Omicron variant was found in a person who had received a letter from Canada, on which traces of the virus were discovered.
As a result, domestic mail will now have to be sorted separately, in order to avoid any risk of contamination from international shipments, and postal services have been ordered to disinfect “as soon as possible” letters and parcels from abroad. Employees in contact with these objects are also invited to receive a booster dose of anti-Covid vaccine. Citizens are called on to reduce their orders “of countries and regions with a high risk of Covid”, the Post Office announced in a notice.
While the origin of the coronavirus has not been determined, China leans towards the theory that the disease could have been introduced from abroad, in particular via frozen foods. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it doubts such a possibility.
With less than three weeks before the Beijing Winter Olympics (February 4-20), authorities fear that their Zero Covid policy will be undermined by a series of limited outbreaks. The country where the pandemic was initially detected at the end of 2019 has largely stemmed the contagion, but has been faced with sporadic outbreaks for a few weeks. However, the number of new daily cases in China rarely exceeds the 200 mark.