The transmission mechanisms of the novel coronavirus via cold-chain foods and mink farms have puzzled experts and are still being researched, Marion Koopmans, a member of the WHO's fact-finding mission to China, told Chinese state-run broadcaster CGTN
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2021) The transmission mechanisms of the novel coronavirus via cold-chain foods and mink farms have puzzled experts and are still being researched, Marion Koopmans, a member of the WHO's fact-finding mission to China, told Chinese state-run broadcaster CGTN.
On November 16, authorities of the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an reported detecting the coronavirus in a package of imported frozen pork. Similar reports were received from several other parts of China in the weeks that followed.
"To me, that is one of the more puzzling things," Koopmans was quoted as saying.
It is commonly accepted that the novel coronavirus primarily transmits via droplets and aerosols, the expert pointed out, recalling that the SARS-causing coronavirus could transmit via the environment.
"But given what we know about the virus, it is difficult for me to understand how the virus would survive. In a cold supply chain, the virus can certainly stay for a prolonged period on the surface of packages. That's the kind of information we should dig down deep in," the expert said.
Koopmans was also asked about the COVID-19 outbreaks at mink farms in the Netherlands, which she helped tackle as part of a national team. According to the expert, the team has found that SARS-CoV-2 spreads easily among mink within and between farms, and also affects people working on those farms.
"That is something that we are studying in our country. How exactly does [such a] virus transmit? We don't fully understand it. We know from the genomic tracking of the virus that the farm viruses are linked. But we don't understand how they transmitted one farm to the other," Koopmans said, adding that the issue is being researched.
Since the summer, millions of mink have been culled in the Netherlands at farms in which COVID-19 was detected. Similarly, large outbreaks were detected at mink farms in Denmark.
The WHO's fact-finding mission is expected to arrive in China on Thursday with the goal of determining the origins of the novel coronavirus. This will already be the third WHO mission to China, with the first having taken place in February and July of last year.
