This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
Published on July 3, 2020, China stepped up inspections of wholesale food markets and outlawed the sale and consumption of wildlife, after a recent COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing was traced to a major agricultural wholesale market.
The COVID-19 virus is believed to have emerged at a market that sold live animals in the central city of Wuhan late last year.
"China will restrict the trading and slaughter of live poultry, encourage the mass slaughter of live poultry in places with certain conditions, and gradually close live poultry markets," said Chen Xu, an official at the State Administration of Market Regulation, at a press briefing.
Live poultry markets are a common sight in agricultural wholesale food markets and "wet markets" across China, where poultry is traditionally butchered on the spot by stallholders or buyers can opt to slaughter the live animal at home.
Animal rights groups have welcomed the announcement, with Jason Baker, senior vice president of PETA Asia, saying, "We are happy to see that live-poultry markets are on their way out in China."
