E-Paper
Health authorities dismiss Canada-link to 1st Omicron case in Beijing
Canadian health authorities have dismissed the Chinese claim that a Covid-19 infection of the Omicron variant detected in Beijing may have been caused by a package received from Canada.
Canadian health authorities have dismissed the Chinese claim that a Covid-19 infection of the Omicron variant detected in Beijing may have been caused by a package received from Canada.
While that claim was made by the Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, it was rejected in Canada.
Canada’s health minister Jean-Yves Duclos described that contention as an “extraordinary view”, according to the outlet CBC News.
He added that the Chinese accusation was “not in accordance with what we have done both internationally and domestically”.
Canada’s chief medical advisor Dr Supriya Sharma told the channel CTV that this was “highly improbable” as the virus on the package would have to survive through international transport. “It would be highly unlikely that that could ever transmit Covid-19,” she said.
Similar concerns over mail have been voiced since the Covid-19 pandemic started and been largely rejected. Canada Post has addressed the matter in its section on the coronavirus, saying, “The World Health Organization (WHO) and Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) have made public assurances that the risk when handling mail, including international mail, is low”.
“In general, because of poor survivability of coronaviruses on surfaces, there is a low risk of spread from products or packaging shipped over a period of days or weeks. Currently, there is no evidence of Covid-19 being transmitted by imported goods or packages,” it noted.
The leader of the opposition in Canada Erin O’Toole described the Chinese version as “comical”.
The case was detected in a young resident of Beijing who received a parcel from Canada that reached her on January 10, three days after it was posted, and travelled there via the United States and Hong Kong.
China has adopted a zero Covid policy as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics in Beijing and an outbreak could disrupt its plans, especially due to high transmissibility of the Omicron variant.
