Freshippo has announced it will do extensive testing of staff, facilities and products in Southeast China’s Guangdong Province for the coronavirus after a worker tested positive for COVID-19.

(File photo: IC)

Mai Jiaomeng, the director of the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation, said on Sunday that a total of 36 Freshippo stores and 12 associated warehouses and processing enterprises are being investigated.

Mai said the province is now comprehensively organizing nucleic acid tests for all the Freshippo stores, warehouses and processing enterprises within its jurisdiction. 

Officials will also test the interior of the stores and warehouses with special emphasis on the testing of imported frozen meat and aquatic products. 

By 8 am on Sunday, a total of 9,989 samples were collected from the company in Guangdong Province, including 6,645 samples from employees, 1,770 from the environment, and 1,574 from products. So far, the results of 9,713 samples have been published. The samples of two people from Shenzhen Freshippo store came up positive, and the rest were negative.

Mai said that Guangdong launched a traceability management information system for imported frozen meat products and aquatic products on Wednesday, which will improve the efficiency of tracing the products across the whole province.

(Compiled by Ma Xiaoxi)