Emerging reports have it that Coronavirus has been detected on samples of ice cream in north China, meaning authorities have had to seize thousands of potentially contaminated products, the Independent are reporting.
Three testing samples were sent to the municipal centre for disease control and all three returned positive tests. The rest of the companies products have since been sealed and contained.
As China actually have a functioning test and trace system, people who are believed to have come into contact with the infected product, produced by Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company, are being traced by authorities.
All 1,662 employees of Tianjin Daqiaodao have also been put through nucleic acid testing. 700 have so far returned negative test results.
Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist based at the University of Leeds told Sky News that it was “probably a one off” and that it had likely “come from a person” rather than the raw materials the company source from New Zealand and Ukraine.
“We probably don’t need to panic that every bit of ice cream is suddenly going to be contaminated with coronavirus,” he said.
Authorities have made efforts to disinfect the factory where the ice cream is made and told people who might have purchased it to report to their local medical bodies in their areas.
While this is unlikely to lead to a mass outbreak, it is a tale Britain’s leaders could learn from in terms of taking necessary, drastic measures to limit the spread of the highly infectious virus.
