HONG KONG: Hong Kong authorities said on Sunday (Jan 23) one hamster surrendered to authorities by pet-owners had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and that over 2,200 hamsters had been culled as the city grappled to contain an outbreak.
On Tuesday, officials ordered the killing of hamsters from dozens of pet shops after tracing a coronavirus outbreak to a worker at a shop and asked people to surrender any bought on or after Dec 22.
While a handful of hamsters had already tested positive for the virus, this latest case is the first involving a hamster in the care of a pet-owner that had tested positive.
Despite a public outcry against the hamster crackdown, authorities urged pet-owners to continue to hand over their tiny furry pets given burgeoning health risks.
“(The government) strongly advises members of the public again to surrender … as soon as possible their hamsters purchased in local pet shops on or after Dec 22, 2021 for humane dispatch,” the government said in a statement.
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam earlier told reporters that she understood “pet owners are unhappy” with the killings, but said the biggest priority was to control the outbreak.
The government described the outcry as “irrational”.
Thousands of people have offered to adopt unwanted hamsters.
Some scientists and veterinary authorities have said there is no evidence that animals play a major role in human contagion with the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, officials have warned that COVID-19 infections could be growing exponentially in the congested residential area of Kwai Chung on the Kowloon peninsula, as a second building in the district with 2,000 residents was locked down on Saturday for five days.
More than 35,000 residents in over a dozen buildings in the area were also ordered to take COVID-19 tests, with Lam herself visiting the area on Sunday.
Lam urged people to avoid gatherings ahead of next week’s Lunar New Year holidays to try to contain the highly infectious Omicron variant.
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