Medical staff doing Covid-19 test for fish at the market ’caused a storm’ on the internet

In the context of the Covid-19 epidemic becoming more and more serious in Shanghai, in addition to regularly taking samples for testing for local people to quickly detect new cases of corona virus infection, the city government also conducted Covid-19 test for fish sold at the seafood market.

Specifically, a video that quickly “stormed” Chinese social networks shows medical staff in protective suits, goggles and gloves holding in their hands a Covid-19 test sample and put a large fish in his mouth.

The fluid sample taken from the fish’s mouth was then transferred for PCR testing on March 27, the same day Shanghai implemented a two-step citywide blockade to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic. The video of the fish being tested for Covid-19 has caused fierce controversy.

“What a waste of medical human resources,” the South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted a Chinese netizen as commenting.

Another joked, “Will they put the fish in isolation to another tank for 14 days, if it tests positive for Covid-19?”.

But there are also people who agree with the way of prevention of the epidemic of the Shanghai city government. “The current epidemic is especially serious. This action is to protect food safety for the people,” one person expressed.

In the video, the salesman is holding the fish’s mouth wide open, while the medical staff takes a sample for testing.

“Brother, don’t let go of the fish’s mouth,” said the medical staff with a smile.

The salesman replied, “Don’t worry, it won’t bite.”

On March 30, Shanghai recorded an additional 5,982 new cases of Covid-19. This is the highest number of Covid-19 cases in a day in Shanghai since the outbreak.

Taking fish samples for Covid-19 testing to prevent the disease from spreading in China is no joke. Because recently, China has detected many cases of Covid-19 related to frozen food and mail. For example, the port city of Dalian has stopped trading frozen food during the Covid-19 outbreak in November 2021.

On the social network Douyin, videos of Chinese medical staff doing PCR tests for chickens, cats, and even bicycles, tables and chairs are also easy to find.

For example, in January, a video of an employee working in Henan province performing a test for a garlic sprout attracted special attention on Douyin.

Or like a week ago, in Hebei province, the goat of a villager named Chen Tianshang was taken away by someone claiming to be a local health worker.

Mr. Chen waited forever but did not receive the goat back. He believes that his goat was taken away and eaten by a stranger.

The story made the Chinese public extremely angry. In the end, the local government decided to compensate Mr. Chen in the amount of 2,600 yuan ($410).