Did Omicron arrive in China’s capital Beijing by mail from Canada?

[Emily]

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3163657/did-omicron-arrive-chinas-capital-beijing-mail-canada

Did Omicron arrive in China’s capital Beijing by mail from Canada?

• City’s first case of the Covid-19 variant received a letter from Toronto which had traces of the virus, health authorities say
• Canada’s public health agency and other experts around the world say there is low risk of spreading through goods or packages

Josephine Ma

Published: 3:19pm, 17 Jan, 2022

Omicron could have entered the Chinese capital Beijing via contaminated mail from Canada, the city’s Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Monday.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing CDC, said the city’s first Covid-19 patient to be diagnosed with the Omicron variant had received a letter mailed from Canada on January 7.

“We do not rule out the possibility that the person was infected through contacting an object from overseas,” she said.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly said they are finding the coronavirus on contaminated imports, usually frozen goods. Some researchers and health authorities overseas have raised doubts this method of transmission, arguing the virus does not survive long enough on surfaces.
...
The Beijing CDC said residents should minimise their purchases of goods from overseas and wear masks and gloves when opening mail from high risk countries. It recommended letters and packages should be opened outside the home and sanitised.

[sharon sanders]

Please see:

China - A local COVID-19 Omicron variant confirmed in Beijing - January 16, 2022

[Emily]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/bewildering-experts-dispute-chinese-officials-claim-that-mail-from-canada-may-have-brought-omicron-to-beijing-1.5743254

'Bewildering': Experts dispute Chinese officials' claim that mail from Canada may have brought Omicron to Beijing


Tom Yun CTVNews.ca writer

Published Monday, January 17, 2022 1:47PM EST Last Updated Monday, January 17, 2022 3:40PM EST

[sharon sanders]

bump this

[Pathfinder]

Doctors say claim that China’s 1st Omicron case came from Canada isn’t based on science

Health minister calls it 'an extraordinary view'

RCI
Posted: 10:39 AM

Doctors say an allegation out of Beijing that China's first Omicron case may be linked to mail received from Toronto should be treated with deep skepticism.
...
I find this to be, let's say, an extraordinary view, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told a news conference Monday.

Certainly [it's] not in accordance with what we have done both internationally and domestically.
...
I don't think any of that's based on science, said Dr. Anna Banerji, an associate professor of pediatrics and infectious disease at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

She said the airborne Omicron variant would never survive on an envelope shipped across the world.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says the virus is primarily transmitted through the air.

While mail may be contaminated, the risk of COVID-19 infection when handling paper mail or cardboard packages, including international mail, is extremely low, it said in an emailed statement.

We know that the virus is most frequently transmitted when people are in close contact with others who are infected with the virus (either with or without symptoms).

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say studies show an inability to detect viable virus within minutes to hours on porous surfaces, like paper.
...
Epidemiologist Dr. Donald Vinh, a professor with McGill University's division of experimental medicine, said the chance of such a package actually infecting someone is very, very low.

Is it believable or likely or probable that this has happened? And the answer is no, he said.
...

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/1855210/doctors-say-claim-that-chinas-1st-omicron-case-came-from-canada-isnt-based-on-science

[etudiant]

I do remember seeing a study that showed flu viruses surviving for weeks on a surface, so would not dismiss the claim out of hand.
That said, China is not a very credible source, people do die of Covid in Hong Kong, but not if they move somewhere else in China.

[sharon sanders]

bump this