China suspends seafood imports from two Russian vessels for a month

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will stop accepting import declarations from two Russian vessels for four weeks, after the coronavirus was detected on the outer packaging and samples of Russian aquatic products.

The customs office on Saturday said the coronavirus was detected by authorities in the eastern coastal province of Shandong.

The two vessels were named as fishing vessel Vladimir Starzhinsky LLC Roliz and transport vessel Crystal Africa.

The restrictions come as China tightens seafood imports from a number of sources due to the coronavirus.

Customs on Friday said it would suspend seafood imports from a Brazilian company for a week after a package of fish tested positive for the coronavirus.

Last week, China suspended imports from an Indonesian seafood producer for one week after a batch of its frozen hairtail fish tested positive for the coronavirus.

Chinese authorities in the northeastern Jilin province had also detected the virus on the packaging of imported squid from Russia last week.

(Reporting by Emily Chow and Wang Jing; Editing by Sam Holmes)