Concerns About Virus on Food Imports Are Real, Expert Says
- Virus is ‘hitching a ride’ on $1.5 trillion global food trade
- WHO is dismissive of evidence for Covid-carrying food imports
Photographer: Yin Liqin/China News Service via Getty Images
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There is a real risk of cross-border coronavirus transmission through the $1.5 trillion global agri-food market, according to a scientist who has studied the phenomenon.
It is possible that contaminated food imports can transfer the virus to workers as well as the environment, said Dale Fisher, an infectious diseases physician at Singapore’s National University Hospital. Frozen-food markets are thought to be one harbor in the first part of a chain of transmission, he added.