Hong Kong will cull hundreds of hamsters after some tested positive for the coronavirus, as the city strives to maintain its “zero covid” strategy, authorities announced Tuesday.
The decision to cull some 2,000 hamsters and other small animals was made after health authorities detected some cases of covid-19 in a Hong Kong pet store.
Health Secretary Sophia Chan said they are trying to protect public health after a store employee and a customer tested positive after coming into contact with the hamsters.
The employee was infected with the delta variant, which has been rare in Hong Kong.
The city has strictly followed China’s “zero covid” policy, resulting in few coronavirus infections, but has cut off the financial center from the rest of the world for the past two years.
“Internationally there is no evidence that pets transmit the coronavirus to humans, but … we will take precautionary measures against any transmission vector,” Chan explained at a press conference.
Initially 11 positive samples were detected among hamsters for sale at the Little Boss pet store in the Causway Bay shopping district.
Authorities believe the pets were imported from the Netherlands and have asked those who bought a hamster after Dec. 22 to hand it over for euthanization.
Some 1,000 Little Boss animals will be seized and euthanized, while staff and customers are tested.
A thousand other hamsters from numerous other Hong Kong stores will also be euthanized.
Little Boss and other pet stores will have to remain closed, while the importation of small mammals has been suspended, authorities added.
