Did Omicron arrive in China’s capital Beijing by mail from Canada?

City’s first case of the Covid-19 variant received a letter from Toronto with traces of the virus, health authorities say

Canada’s public health agency and other experts around the world say there is low risk of spreading through goods or packages

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Beijing residents have been warned to take care opening their mail after health authorities said they found the Covid-19 Omicron variant on a letter from Canada. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:19pm, 17 Jan 2022Updated: 7:07pm, 17 Jan 2022

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus could have entered the Chinese capital Beijing via contaminated mail from Canada, the city’s centre for disease control said on Monday.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said the city’s first Covid-19 patient to be diagnosed with the variant had received a letter mailed from Canada on January 7.

“We do not rule out the possibility that the person was infected through contacting an object from overseas,” she said.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly said they are finding the coronavirus on contaminated imports, usually frozen goods. Some researchers and health authorities overseas have raised doubts about this method of transmission, arguing that the virus does not survive long enough on surfaces.

This view is shared by Canada’s public health agency, which has previously said there is no evidence of Covid-19 being transmitted by imported goods or packages.

In a Q&A section on its website, the Canadian post office cites assurances from the country’s public health agency and the World Health Organization that the risk when handling mail, including international deliveries, is low.

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