As the goal to stamp out coronavirus infection becomes harder to reach, with more transmissible variants and a world awash with the pathogen, mainland China and Hong Kong are pointing to a wide range of non-human routes as potential evaders of their strict control measures.
The crackdowns, which range from parcels to fish and four-legged pets, come despite experts outside of China warning such methods of transmission are unproven and unlikely.
¡°It seems to be a shorthand for blaming foreign sources for the origin of the outbreak, rather than attributing it to the virus evading the protocols set up to detect infections,¡± Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor in health security at the City University of Hong Kong. ¡°The reality is that COVID ¡ª especially the delta and omicron variants ¡ª are now present in all the countries on China¡¯s borders. Either via imported cases arriving at airports or sea ports, or simply by people crossing China¡¯s borders, the virus is going to get into China.¡±
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