Health Ministry: Food packaging from COVID-19-hit countries to be tested
Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has ordered the testing of samples of food packaging imported from countries with large COVID-19 outbreaks to head off potential exposure to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
A woman shops in a supermarket in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. — (Photo: VNA/VNS)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has ordered the testingof samples of food packaging imported from countries with large COVID-19outbreaks to head off potential exposure to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
The precautionary move comes as Vietnam has largely controlled the domesticsituation – it has gone more than 80 days without community transmission – buthealth authorities warn risks of virus resurgence remain real and significant.
To strengthen prevention measures and prevent the spread of the virus into Vietnam,the Ministry of Health, a standing member of the Central Inter-agency SteeringCommittee on Food Safety, asked the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance (theGeneral Department of Customs), and the People's Committees of centrally-run citiesand provinces to instruct authorities to take strict control measures, especiallyagainst frozen food imported products from countries with outbreaks.
Samples should be collected and tested for the presence of the virus and theresults submitted to the health ministry.
The ministry also called for stepped-up information campaigns andawareness-raising efforts on COVID-19 prevention and control measures.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said in a recent meeting that SARS-CoV-2might be able to survive long on packaging in cold storage conditions, whichcould then transmit to humans.
The minister said this was a potential source of the virus being reintroducedinto the country./.
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A woman shops in a supermarket in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. — (Photo: VNA/VNS) 
