Hong Kong hamster surrenders positive COVID as city blockade grows Reuters

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong authorities say a hamster handed over to authorities by pet owners on Sunday was positive for COVID-19 and more than 2,200 hamsters were killed as the city struggled to contain an explosion.

On Tuesday, officials ordered the killing of hamsters from dozens of stores after the outbreak of the coronavirus followed a store employee and asked him to hand over everything purchased on or after Dec. 22.

Although a few hamsters have already tested positive for the virus, the latter case is a hamster in the care of a pet owner who tested positive.

Despite a public outcry over Hamster’s crackdown, authorities have urged pet owners to continue to deliver their small hairy animals due to growing health risks.

“(The government) strongly encourages citizens to surrender again … to send hamsters purchased from local pet stores as soon as possible on or after December 22, 2021,” the government said in a statement.

As of Jan. 22, a total of 2,512 animals, including 2,229 hamsters, had been “sent to humans,” according to a government statement.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam earlier told reporters she understood that “pet owners are not happy” with the killings, but said the highest priority was to control the outbreak.

The government called the statement “irrational.”

Thousands of people have offered to take unwanted hamsters.

ESTABLISHMENT MEASURES

Some scientists and veterinary authorities have said that there is no evidence that animals play a major role in human contamination with coronavirus.

Meanwhile, officials warned that COVID-19 infections were growing exponentially in a crowded Kwai Chung residential area on the Kowloon Peninsula, as the second building in the 2,000-person district was closed for five days on Saturday.

More than 35,000 residents of more than a dozen buildings in the area had to take mandatory COVID-19 tests, while Lam and other senior officials visited the area on Sunday.

Sophia Chan, Hong Kong’s health secretary, told reporters on Sunday that she would follow the city’s containment strategies.

About 140 confirmed cases were reported on Sunday, the highest daily number at the financial center since July 25, 2020.

Lame has asked people to avoid gathering before next week’s New Year’s Moon holiday to try to hold on to the highly infectious Omicron variant.

The situation is testing Hong Kong’s “zero COVID-19” strategy aimed at eliminating the disease, with schools and gyms already closed, restaurants closed at 18:00 (1000 GMT) and many major air travel sites cut off or severely disrupted.

Some companies have begun to implement contingency measures.

UBS Group AG (SIX 🙂 Reuters said in a statement to Hong Kong staff that “it has decided to move from home to work, except for a minimum number of employees who need to perform essential tasks. Office” in the wake of the Omicorn outbreak.

A UBS spokesman declined to comment on the release.