China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday said no COVID-19 traces were found in salmon before the fish arrived in Beijing's wholesale food market.
There was no trace of the virus on the salmon before it reached the market, Shi Guoqing, deputy director of the CDC’s emergency response center, told local media in China.
"At present, all the evidence points to Xinfadi, rather than to salmon,” Zhong Kai, director of the China Food Information Center, told the media. Xinfadi is the market where Covid-19 was detected over the weekend on a cutting board used to slice salmon.
The discovery sparked international concern among the world's leading salmon producers.
No contamination has been found in restaurants selling salmon, and no infections have been found among people who eat the fish, he said.
Norwegian authorities also confirmed Norwegian salmon was not the source of the new outbreak found on cutting boards in the food market, Fisheries and Seafood Minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen said on Wednesday.
Hong Kong's local publication The Standard reported that 16 samples imported salmon, including some from Norway, Ireland, Iceland and Denmark and Chile, tested negative for the coronavirus, citing The Center for Food Safety.
The center has also reviewed recent imports of chilled salmon from various origins flown into Hong Kong. Salmon sold in Hong Kong is mainly from the United States and European countries such as Norway.
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The Chinese and Norwegian authorities met on Tuesday after worldwide panic over salmon sold in a Beijing market was reported to be the source of the city's new coronavirus outbreak..
Beijing authorities continue to inspect all seafood, meat and vegetable produce in markets, food halls and government canteens as part of its plan to control the recent outbreak of COVID-19 hitting the city.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Bloomberg it is unaware of any suspected or formal cases of COVID-19 transmission linked to food or food packaging.
Beijing reported 31 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 137, after 50 days of no cases.
Read the latest developments here:
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