China tests fish caught at sea for COVID-19

The health authorities of China are now testing fish caught at sea to make sure they are not carriers of the COVID-19 and thus limit the spread of the virus in China.

Videos of COVID-19 screening carried out on fish in the port city of Xiamen have accumulated several thousand views and provoked many reactions on social networks.

Quipped one surfer, “What if we placed the infected fish in a quarantine centre.”

A representative of the health authorities in Xiamen, in the southeast of the country, confirmed that not only fishermen were being tested for COVID-19 but also their catch, namely fish, shellfish and other seafood.

The representative said on Friday, “Everything that enters the country must be tested.”

Such a procedure was put in place after the Jimei district last month issued a new directive warning against illegal trading at sea with foreign fishermen. The authorities have demanded that the fishermen and their catches be tested on arrival on land.

China’s coronavirus policy is the strictest in the world. While the rest of the globe is trying to live with the virus, Beijing continues to impose long periods of confinement and massive screening on its population.