China cites coronavirus on packaging, despite doubts abroad

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say parcels mailed from overseas may have spread the coronavirus in Beijing and elsewhere, despite doubts among overseas health experts that the virus can be transmitted via packaging. The State Post Bureau says it has ordered stronger measures to ventilate and disinfect sites where items mailed from overseas are handled. Postal workers must wear protective equipment, receive booster shots and undergo regular testing. Global health experts say the virus mainly spreads through respiratory droplets when infected people breathe, speak, cough and sneeze, and that coronaviruses “need a live animal or human host to multiply and survive and cannot multiply on the surface of food packages.”