Hong Kong has found COVID-19 in 11 hamsters at a pet store. An employee at the store was also infected. As a result, officials have announced that they will kill 2000 animals. The employee and the hamsters tested positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Officials are asking hamster owners to hand them in
Hong Kong officials have also announced they are banning the selling and importing of small animals into the city. The infected hamsters had previously come from the Netherlands. The media has also announced that officials are asking anyone who bought a hamster from December 22, 2021, to turn them in.
The employee infected with COVID-19 was a twenty-three-year-old woman working at Little Boss, a pet shop in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another 67-year-old woman who had visited the store has also tested positive.
The hamsters in the city came from the Netherlands on December 22 and January 7. Officials are asking buyers to hand them in so they can cull them. This move aligns with the city’s zero COVID strategy, which aims to eliminate the disease.
According to the head of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation in Hong Kong, Leung Siu-fai, officials had decided on culling the animals as it would be more challenging to quarantine and observe them.
Furthermore, the secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan, has said that while there is no proof that hamsters could transmit COVID-19, the city has decided to take preventative measures and not rule out any possible transmission point.
Animals rarely spread COVID-19 to people
The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported minimal chance of animals spreading the disease to humans. However, animals could easily contract the disease from people. The exceptions are minks which can cause disease in humans. These animals played a role in disease transmission in Denmark.
This incident is not the first time animals have contracted COVID-19. In 2020, officials found that a Bronx Zoo tiger had contracted the disease from a staff member. Fortunately, the animal was asymptomatic.
Ferrets and cats seem to be more susceptible to airborne infection. Dog, on the other hand, are less likely to contract COVID-19 from humans.
