Airport infections tied to shipping container: officials

Two recent cases of novel coronavirus in Shanghai and Anhui Province were both exposed to an aviation shipping container arriving in Shanghai from North America late last month, which was blamed for the infections, the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention told a press conference on Monday. 

A 51-year-old male porter from Yingqian Village, Zhuqiao Town in Shanghai' Pudong New Area, was confirmed infection on November 9. He has worked at Shanghai Pudong International Airport since April 8 and has not left Shanghai since then. He had no COVID-19 contact history and no hospital visits in the past three months.

A day later, a 50-year-old colleague of the porter was also confirmed as infected. He had been working with the porter at the cargo terminal of the Pudong airport before returning home in Anhui Province on November 5.

Close contacts of the pair had all tested negative. The duo did not have contact with any confirmed cases, suspected cases, asymptomatic infection cases, fever patients or even confirmed patients who had recently been discharged from hospital, said Sun Xiaodong, deputy director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Neither man had contact with flight crew or persons from high- and medium-risk regions, eliminating the possibility of human-to-human transmission, said Sun. 

They were also not exposed to imported cold-storage foods. 

"The aviation container is enclosed and humid and it had a large amount of foam inside," said Sun. 

Both entered the container for cleaning work on October 30 and did not wear masks, he said. 

"Research has found that the coronavirus can survive in enclosed and humid environments. The timing of their infection matched the incubation period of the disease, based on their time of exposure to the virus," said Sun. 

The genes of the two cases are similar to the epidemic strain in North America, indicating an infection source from overseas, he said.