Hong Kong government stated Tuesday that they’re going to kill about 2,000 small animals, together with hamsters, after a number of examined sure for the coronavirus at a puppy retailer the place an worker used to be additionally inflamed.
Town may also forestall the sale of hamsters and the import of small mammals, in line with officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Division. The puppy store worker examined sure for the delta variant on Monday, and a number of other hamsters imported from the Netherlands on the retailer examined sure as smartly.
In step with the U.S. Facilities for Illness Keep an eye on and Prevention, animals don’t seem to play a vital function in spreading the coronavirus. However Hong Kong government stated they don’t seem to be ruling out transmission between animals and people.
“We can not exclude the likelihood that the shopkeeper used to be in reality in truth inflamed from the hamsters,” stated Edwin Tsui, a controller on the Centre for Well being Coverage.
“Should you personal a hamster, you must stay your hamsters at house, don’t take them out,” division director Leung Siu-fai stated at a information convention. “All puppy homeowners must practice just right private hygiene, and once you have been in touch with animals and their meals, you must wash your arms.”
“Don’t kiss your pets,” he added.
As a precautionary measure, shoppers who bought hamsters from the shop after Jan. 7 might be traced and be matter to necessary quarantine and should surrender their hamsters to government to be put down, officers stated.
They stated all puppy retail outlets in Hong Kong should forestall promoting hamsters and that about 2,000 small mammals, together with hamsters and chinchillas, might be killed in a humane way.
Consumers who purchased hamsters in Hong Kong from Dec. 22 might be matter to necessary trying out and are steered no longer touch others till their exams have returned unfavourable. If their hamsters check sure, they’ll be matter to quarantine.
Hong Kong’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stated it used to be “stunned and anxious” by means of the verdict to kill the animals, and steered the federal government to not “take any drastic motion earlier than reviewing its way.”
Hong Kong has been grappling with an area omicron outbreak traced to a number of Cathay Pacific team individuals who dined at bars and eating places around the town earlier than trying out sure for the omicron variant.
The federal government introduced past due Monday that two former flight attendants were arrested for leaving their houses all over quarantine and later being showed to have coronavirus infections. It didn’t establish their employer, however stated the 2 arrived from the U.S. on Dec. 24 and 25 and “performed useless actions” whilst underneath scientific surveillance.
The arrests got here after Cathay Pacific stated it had fired two team individuals for breaching coronavirus protocols. It prior to now apologized and known as their movements “extraordinarily disappointing.” The corporate needed to scale back on flights — each passenger and load — in January on account of tightened virus curbs.
The 2 were launched on bail and may have their case heard in courtroom on Feb. 9. If convicted of violating anti-epidemic laws, they might withstand six months’ imprisonment and a superb of as much as 5,000 Hong Kong greenbacks ($642).
In the past in Hong Kong, some air and sea team individuals may isolate at house underneath quarantine exemptions. Laws have been tightened on Dec. 31 to require team individuals to isolate in a chosen quarantine lodge for approximately per week.
