Officials in China’s Xiamen City are now conducting COVID tests on fish and crab caught by fishermen as part of the country’s efforts to reach zero COVID.
On Tuesday Aug. 16, fishing season officially began in the coastal city in Fujian province, and authorities have ordered fishermen – and all the fish they catch – to undergo daily nucleic acid tests.
Officials announced that when fishermen come ashore, they are to be swabbed alongside their catch immediately on disembarking, according to Sina.
Local TV footage showed workers swabbing the mouths of fish and the underside of crabs.
The footage has gone viral on Weibo, with a related hashtag gaining more than 120 million views and more than 6,000 comments.
In June 2020, people in Beijing panicked due to an outbreak which was allegedly triggered by the virus found on chopping boards for imported salmon, according to the BBC.
Authorities in Hainan province, another coastal region like Fujian, also believed an outbreak earlier in August was linked to the fishing community, according to BBC.
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