BEIJING — Chinese customs have stepped up checks on cold-chain food imports over concerns relating to COVID-19, an official said on May 23.

Remote spot inspections of overseas food enterprises have begun via video link and communication with authorities of relevant countries and regions has increased, Li Zhengliang, an official with the General Administration of Customs told a press conference.

Imports from companies reporting cluster infections have been suspended, Li said. As of last week, the imports of products from 170 overseas companies had been suspended due to COVID-19 infections among their employees.

Customs has also intensified random inspection and disinfection of cold-chain food imports, finding 1,384 COVID-19-positive specimens via random inspection as of last week and supervising preventative disinfection of 117.45 million packages of imported cold-chain food.

During the conference on May 23, Li also called for more monitoring and testing of COVID-19 variants as well as more efforts to prevent the spread of other diseases and to improve health protection for frontline customs staff.