China has come up with a new ice cream that no one wants to try.
During routine government tests recently, three samples from an ice cream company in northern China came in positive for COVID-19.
Officials now believe 4,836 boxes of the ice cream could have been contaminated, more than half of which were already for sale when the test results came back, Sky News reported on Friday.
Only 2089 boxes of ice cream could be confiscated in time, the report said.
The ice cream was manufactured by the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company, where the 1,662 employees were tested and quarantined on Thursday.
Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds in the UK, said an infected person probably infected the groups.
“Of course, any level of pollution is not acceptable and there is always cause for concern, but the chances are high that it is the result of a problem with the production plant and possibly to hygiene in the factory,” he said.
Griffin explained that the virus could survive in the product due to the ice’s cold temperature and fat.
He also urged the public not to panic about the accident.
“We probably do not need to panic that every bit of ice cream is going to be suddenly infected with coronavirus,” Griffin added.
Officials said those who may have bought the ice scream should report their status so the health department can detect potential cases.