Hong Kong, Europe Brief News – More than five million people have been ordered to undergo Covid-19 testing in the coastal Chinese city of Xiamen this week, after some 40 cases of the virus were detected.
But they’re not the only ones who have been ordered to get tested. Coastal city of Xiamen told workers on fishing boats, as well as their catch, to undergo testing as part of import controls
In recent weeks, Xiamen’s Jimei Maritime Pandemic Control district committee issued a notice saying that when fishermen return to their ports “both fishermen and their seafood must be tested”.
The result has been that amid this latest outbreak, video footage has appeared on multiple social media platforms including Douyin – China’s local version of TikTok – showing medical workers giving live fish and crabs Covid-19 PCR tests.
According to the Xiamen Jimei district’s political and legal committee, it was necessary to swab both returning workers and their “materials” immediately upon disembarking each day, because some fishers had made illegal trades or contact with overseas vessels while at sea, “resulting in the import of the coronavirus”.
“At present, all people in Xiamen City need nucleic acid testing, and the fish catches must be tested as well,” an employee at the Xiamen municipal ocean development bureau told local media. TV news reports showed officials swabbing the mouths of fish and the underside of crabs.
There was no report that any trace of the virus had been detected.
