Hong Kong Orders Hamster Cull After 11 Pets Test Covid Positive
NDTV
The outbreak of Delta variant cases in humans linked to the shop worker prompted tests on hundreds of animals, with 11 hamsters showing up positive.
Hong Kong ordered a cull of 2,000 hamsters on Tuesday and warned pet owners not to kiss animals after a new cluster of COVID-19 cases was traced to a pet shop.
The outbreak of Delta variant cases in humans linked to the shop worker prompted tests on hundreds of animals, with 11 hamsters showing up positive.
That has brought a pet rodent clampdown on Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, which is following the mainland's zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19 even as much of the world shifts to living with it.
The territory's Health Secretary Sophia Chan stressed at a news conference that there was no evidence domestic animals can pass the disease to humans, but authorities were anyway acting out of caution to ban imports and sales of pet rodents.
