Authorities in Hong Kong have ordered the deaths of some 2,000 hamsters and other small rodent pets after health officials said they may be responsible for infecting a pet shop worker with COVID-19
quoted an unnamed source as saying that health authorities believe “it’s very likely that the transmission this time is from animals to humans.” Genome sequencing of the virus found in the animals, imported from the Netherlands, shows it is the same as the virus present in the pet shop worker.
“We don’t want to cull all the animals,” conservation official Thomas Sit told reporters. “But we need to protect public health and animal health. We have no choice. We have to make a firm decision.” It’s the latest dramatic measure Hong Kong officials have taken as part of the city’s “zero COVID” approach. After a cluster of fewer than 100 infections of the Omicron variant broke out in the city of 7.5 million, officials imposed 2020-style social distancing restrictions, including closing bars and gyms and ordering restaurants to stop dine-in service at 6 p.m. All flights from eight countries, including the U.S. and U.K.
The policy—which has seen the city record fewer than 13,000 cases and 213 COVID-19 deaths—mirrors similar, which has worked to stamp out all traces of infection at any cost. Hong Kong is hoping that Beijing will allow a resumption of quarantine-free travel between the city and the mainland—which is critical to many businesses and families in Hong Kong.
It’s not the first time Hong Kong linked a human’s COVID-19 infection to a pet. At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, a 17-year-old Pomeranian tested positive for the virus. But in that case, health authorities confirmedSome of the city’s residents took to Twitter to question the mass destruction of the hamsters—including the government’s promise to deal with them “humanely.”
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