Coronavirus Does Not Spread Through Food: WHO

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, people have been locked up in their houses and have been fearing to go out worried that they might contract the disease. With hotels, restaurants and eateries being closed due to the lockdown, people have stopped eating outside and even after the food joints opened as part of Unlock, the hoteliers reported a drop in their business as many customers feared that the virus would spread through food and avoided eating outside food.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) cleared air on the issue and said that Covid-causing Coronavirus does not spread through food products and their packaging. It said that people need not worry about the food supply chains carrying the disease.

Two days ago, China officials in two cities, Ji’an and Shenzhen, complained that they had found the virus in the chicken wings imported from Brazil and prawns from Ecuador. They alerted the people to be careful while consuming food products.

In response, the WHO Emergency Programme head Mike Ryan said: “People need not worry about food products, their packaging, processing and delivery. There are no evidences to prove that the virus spreads through food chains. People can conveniently use food products without any hesitation and fear.”

Similarly, WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kherkhove said that when the Chinese examined thousands of food packages for the virus, they found a negligible amount of them being harmful to public health.

Even Brazil and Ecuador responded to China’s allegations. Ecuador authorities said that even their country follows the Covid protocols strictly and that they would not hold any responsibility of the products which have been shifted off their country.

Meanwhile, Brazil said that they were waiting for more information regarding the allegations levelled by China.

Coronavirus seems to be a strange micro-organism that is determined to keep people confined to their homes but giving relaxation when it came to food, the basic need for man’s survival. The virus is allowing man to eat but not to loiter in the open.