Traces of coronavirus have been detected in ice cream samples in China, prompting authorities to seize thousands of potentially contaminated products. The reports of contamination first surfaced in northern Tianjin municipality.
According to reports, the Daqiaodao Food Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government statement said. There was no indication anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream.
The Independent reported that over 1,600 employees of Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company have been placed under quarantine and are being tested for Covid-19. Of them, the test results of 700 employees are negative.
Most of the 29,000 cartons in the batch had yet to be sold, the statement said, and further added that 390 sold in Tianjin were being tracked down and authorities in other places were notified of sales to their areas. The ingredients included New Zealand milk powder and whey powder from Ukraine.
Meanwhile, China on Sunday reported 109 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, two-thirds of them in a northern province that abuts Beijing, and no deaths.
There were 72 new cases in Hebei province, where the government is building isolation hospitals with a total of 9,500 rooms to combat an upsurge in infections, according to the National Health Commission.
China had largely contained the virus that was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019 but has reported hundreds of new infections since December.
The Health Commission on Saturday blamed them on travellers and imported goods it said brought the virus from abroad. Chinas death toll stands at 4,653 out of 88,227 total cases.
(Inputs from Associated Press and PTI)
