A member of the disinfection team works on the street in Suihua City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 18, 2021. A team of 25 volunteers has carried out disinfection tasks in Beilin District of Suihua City to curb the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in the wake of newly emerged cases. (Photo by Zhang Tao/Xinhua)

Local authorities in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province said Monday they had found coronavirus on the outer packaging of nine products of a local meat-processing company co-established by the Thai conglomerate CP Group, after the firm reported dozens of confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections last week. Relevant products have been removed from the shelves, according to media reports.

Streets in the community where the company is located were identified as medium- or high-risk areas on Monday.

As of 8am on Monday, a total of 92,786 samples of products have been tested, of which 91,696 have returned results, with local authorities finding nine samples carrying the coronavirus. The products were chicken chops produced on January 6 and on January 15, 2021 totaling 2,434 kilograms, which were sold to four places including Qiqihar, Daqing, Heihe and Suihua in Heilongjiang. 

Among the products in question, those sold to Qiqihar, Heihe and Suihua have been taken off shelves and sealed off, and the remaining 240 kilograms of products sold to Daqing are still being traced. 

The 10 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and 31 asymptomatic infections detected in Harbin, Heilongjiang, Thursday are all related to a local meat-processing company co-established by CP Group, and products delivered by the firm on January 1 have been taken off shelves and those that have been sold are being recalled. 

The newly confirmed cases were all discovered amid mass-scale coronavirus testing of targeted people, and emergency measures have been taken to seal and control the company while comprehensive nucleic acid testing on its products, environment, and personnel is conducted, according to the local authority.