Health authorities in Hong Kong have found evidence pointing to a spread of COVID-19 from hamsters imported from the Netherlands. The contagion, which corresponds to the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant, was detected on Sunday in an employee of a Causeway Bay pet store and It would be the first case of animal-to-human transmission (zoonosis) recorded in the former British colony.. After this discovery, the Government has prohibited the sale of this type of rodents.
This is the first time in three months that researchers unable to trace the origin of the infection and although the transmission route is still being studied, numerous of the rodents that were sold in the pet store have tested positive.
According to sources quoted by the local media, the evidence collected so far, especially through genomic sequencing, “suggest” that hamsters were the transmission vector. Both in the case of the patient and the rodents, the same genome of the virus has been found, which is in turn of the same type as the one that circulates in Europe and Pakistan.
“There is a possibility that the infection may have occurred from hamsters imported from the Netherlands, which also have this genome,” added the source.
If confirmed, it would be the first time that a domestic animal infects a human, explains the expert Mario Viciosa in Al Rojo Vivo. “Something to watch out for”, he points out.
The case has caused concern even in the highest levels of Hong Kong, as recognized today by the head of the local government, Carrie Lam. “The risk in the case of this pet store is that involves animals and has more than ten stores throughout Hong Kong“, explained Lam, who added that since Monday they have been working intensively on this matter “and it seems worrying.”
The semi-autonomous territory maintains a zero tolerance strategy against coronavirus, in line with the tactic used by Beijing, and requires 21 days of strict quarantine in a hotel for passengers from abroad. It was also, at the end of November, one of the first territories outside of South Africa to report the finding of those infected with the omicron variant. Hong Kong currently has 238 active cases and has accumulated 13,048 infections and 213 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to official data.
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