Hong Kong will kill about 2.000 hamsters after some of them tested positive for the new coronavirus, local authorities announced today, in a city trying to follow a very strict zero COVID strategy.
[/P]The cull of the small rodents was decided after cases of COVID-19 were detected in a small animal shop. Hong Kong Health Secretary Sophia Chan said this was a way to protect the health of the population after an employee and a customer who caught the hamsters tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
The employee was infected with the Delta variant, which is rare in Hong Kong's local transmission chains. Internationally, there is currently no evidence that animals transmit coronavirus to humans, but we will take precautionary measures, Chan explained at the press conference.
Tests conducted at the Little Boss store, in a busy district of the city, found 11 positive results in hamsters. Authorities believe the animals were imported from the Netherlands and have asked those who bought hamsters after December 22 to hand them in to be killed.
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