Chinese customs have suspended the import of products of 99 cold-chain food manufacturers from 20 countries that reported cluster COVID-19 infections among employees.

This step came amid measures to prevent imported COVID-19 cases via cold-chain food imports, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) told a press conference on Thursday.

Among the firms, a total of 82 had voluntarily suspended their exports to China over the epidemic outbreak, said Bi Kexin, an official with the GAC.

Efforts were stepped up to strengthen COVID-19 risk monitoring of imported cold-chain foods by carrying out nucleic acid sampling tests. By midnight on Wednesday, the GAC had covered 873,475 samples, of which 13 tested positive.

The customs will also take emergency preventive measures by suspending the import declaration of foreign food manufacturers for one to four weeks with the virus detected on any of their cold-chain food or packaging.

The sanction has been taken against eight overseas food producers and six fishing boats by midnight on Wednesday, according to the customs.