Photo: Li Hao/GT

Jiaozhou, East China's Shandong Province, has found a loader who was infected with the novel coronavirus on Tuesday after coming into contact with contaminated imported cold-chain products, becoming the latest case related to imported cold-chain food.

According to the local health authorities on Tuesday, the patient, surnamed Li, worked as a loader in a seafood company in Qingdao. Li was tested positive in a routine nucleic acid tests given to people working on imported cold-chain industry on Monday.

A batch of imported frozen seafood that Li had earlier carried was also found to be contaminated with the virus. The goods have been sealed off. 

A total of 485 close contacts of the asymptomatic patient were tracked and quarantined. So far no positive cases have been found. 

People in locations, where the person has been to, will be given nucleic acid test and quarantined. Those places will also undergo disinfection. 

Since China's General Administration of Customs reported the discovery of novel coronavirus on three batches of frozen products imported from Ecuador for the first time in July, more than 40 similar cases have been reported in about 16 provinces and regions in China. 

Among those cases, the percentage of virus-positive frozen seafood is much higher than that of meat products.

Apart from China's customs authorities, Shandong Province found the most cases related to imported frozen food that tested positive for the novel coronavirus, with the number standing at nine, the Global Times found.

Global Times