Last week, a 23-year-old pet store employee discovered the delta variant. The same mutation was found in eleven hamsters that were imported from the Netherlands. Authorities fear that this is the first infection in Hong Kong in which the virus has jumped from animal to human.
No risk
Although further investigation has yet to determine whether the employee was indeed infected by a hamster, the government has decided not to run any risk. On Tuesday, an order was given to remove 2,000 rodents from dozens of pet stores. In addition to hamsters, this also concerns rabbits and chinchillas.
In addition, anyone who has bought a hamster in the past few days must give up the animal to put it to sleep. The owner himself must be in central quarantine. Customers who bought a hamster at the end of December must also have themselves and their pet tested. If the test is positive, the owner must be quarantined.
Pet Shop
The pet store says it will close the doors of all its branches in order to thoroughly disinfect them. “The animals will be looked after every day so that the little ones lack nothing,” Little Boss wrote on Facebook.
Critical Hongkongers are reacting en masse to the news on social media. “Authorities must stop wrongfully putting pets to sleep,” someone wrote on Facebook. Critics are dissatisfied with the strict corona measures in the Chinese city and they believe that the government is going too far in its zero-tolerance policy.
stool
“You have to realize that infected hamsters have the virus in their feces. They can infect other animals, other hamsters, or people. We have to protect public health and have no choice,” said Thomas Sit of Agriculture, Fisheries and Nature Conservation.
His colleague calls on pet owners to be careful with their hygiene. “You should wash your hands after touching an animal or their food. Don’t kiss your pets,” said Leung Siu-fai.
Photos are circulating on Twitter of people in white hazemat suits standing in front of the pet store to collect the rodents. “Police have cordoned off the danger zone and are asking people to cross the road,” Hong Kong journalist Laurel Choi wrote on her Twitter account.
Susceptible
It has been known for months that many pets are susceptible to the coronavirus. Last March, Chinese scientists identified 44 animal species that could be infected with Covid-19. Hong Kong reported the world’s first dog to test positive like its owner in 2020, but has not previously identified an animal-to-human infection. The first mink-on-human infection was reported in the Netherlands.