Coronavirus found on ice cream cartons in Chinese city, government swings into action

New Delhi: In recent news, the novel coronavirus was found on ice cream cartons produced in China's eastern region which prompted a recall of the product.

The city government in a statement informed that the Daqiaodao Food Co, Ltd in Tianjin, was sealed and the employees were being tested for COVID-19. There was no indication anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream.

The ingredients for the ice cream included New Zealand milk powder and whey powder from Ukraine, the government said. 

The entire batch of ice cream, nearly 29,000 cartons, was yet to be sold, the government said.

Around 390 cartons had been sold in Tianjin and they are being tracked down while authorities elsewhere have been notified about the sale of the ice cream in their areas.

Meanwhile, China on Sunday reported 109 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, two-thirds of them in a northern province that close to national capital Beijing, though no deaths have been reported.

On Saturday, The Health Commission blamed travelers and imported goods saying they brought the virus from abroad.

Currently, China’s death toll stands is at 4,653 and total cases is 88,227.

The first case of the COVID-19 was detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. 

The Chinese government has suggested the disease came from abroad and has highlighted what it says are discoveries of the coronavirus on imported fish and other food. A theory which has been rejected by many foreign scientists.