Chinese health authorities have claimed that the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 may have arrived into the capital, Beijing, via a contaminated letter from Canada — an assertion dismissed and questioned by Canadian experts.The Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control (BCDC) said in a news release Monday that its first case of the Omicron variant in a Beijing resident could be the result of international mail sent from Canada via the United States and Hong Kong.The letter was sent on Jan.
7 and received on Jan. 11, the BCDC said. Employees locked inside office tower after single Omicron case in Beijing The agency claimed that a comprehensive investigation, sampling and testing of the mailed papers showed traces of the Omicron variant.The person who tested positive had not travelled internationally or domestically 14 days prior to being infected, it said.“To sum up, combined with the epidemiological history of the case, the test results of suspicious items, and the gene sequencing results of the case specimens, the possibility of contracting the virus through foreign items cannot be ruled out,” the BCDC stated.It urged residents to minimize the purchase of overseas goods and to wear masks and disposable gloves when receiving international mail.Beijing confirmed its first local case of Omicron on Saturday, weeks before the city is set to host the Winter Olympics in February.Aside from Beijing, China has reported locally-transmitted infections of the Omicron variant in at least four other provinces and municipalities: in the northern city of Tianjin, the central province of Henan, the southern province of Guangdong and the northeastern province of Liaoning.