Local government plans to cull about 2,000 of these rodents.
Hong Kong health authorities have found indications that point to at least one contagion of covid-19 from hamsters imported from the Netherlands, the newspaper reported on Tuesday. South China Morning Post.
The Hong Kong local government on Tuesday ordered pet stores and hamster owners who bought their pets after December 22 to hand over around 2,000 of these rodents for slaughter, and they have also suspended the importation of small animals until further notice. .
The first contagion, which corresponds to the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, was detected on Sunday in an employee of a Causeway Bay pet store and would be the first case of animal-to-human transmission (zoonosis) recorded in the former British colony.
This is the first time in three months that researchers have not been able to trace the origin of the infection and although the transmission route is still being studied, at least eleven of the rodents that were sold in the pet store have tested positive for covid. -19.
Subsequently, the authorities of the former British colony have reported two other cases linked to the same animal sales establishment, one confirmed and the other “a preliminary positive”, although more details are unknown at the moment.
A source cited by the SCMP said that the evidence collected so far, especially through genomic sequencing, “suggests” that hamsters were the vector of transmission.
Both in the case of the first 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 occurred from hamsters imported from the Netherlands, which also have this genome,” the source added.
The case has caused concern in the high 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 it involves animals and that it has more than ten establishments throughout Hong Kong,” Lam explained, adding that since Monday they have been working intensively on this matter “and it seems worrying.”
For his part, the director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation of the local Executive, Leung Siu-fai, responsible for the announcement about the sacrifice of hamsters, pointed out that the decision is based on “public health needs”.
He also asked pet owners to maintain strict hygiene regarding their animals, not to kiss them or abandon them on the street, and to take them to the vet if they detect any abnormality related to their health.
The semi-autonomous territory maintains a zero-tolerance strategy against the 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. (I)
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