According to the New York Times (NYT), Hong Kong will ban the import of small animals and confiscate more than 2,000 hamsters after 11 of them were diagnosed with the delta strain of coronavirus. They decided to check the health of the animals after several people fell ill shortly after visiting one of the pet stores.
The seized animals are examined for infection transmission. Before this report, there were no cases of human infection from hamsters and vice versa. At the same time, in laboratory conditions, hamsters were sick with coronavirus. At the moment, it is very important to establish how the animals became infected, whether they infected the store employee and whether there are still infected animals in other pet stores. Based on the results of the study, all seized hamsters will be euthanized. The assistant director of the Hong Kong Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation said they are very reluctant to kill the animals, but in the current circumstances, the authorities have no choice - they must protect the health of the population and animals.
The reason for the start of such a mass action was the incident in one of the pet stores in Hong Kong - Little Boss. One of the employees of the store became infected with the delta strain of coronavirus. In addition to him, a client visiting the store and her husband fell ill. A further check of the store revealed 11 infected hamsters. In addition, in the warehouse of the store, analysis of samples from the surfaces of goods also showed the presence of coronavirus. [the virus can live on different surfaces for up to several days]
Hamsters are being seized from 34 stores in Hong Kong. Of particular concern are two shipments of animals from the Netherlands, including 1,800 animals imported on December 22 and more than 800 animals imported on January 7. Anyone who bought a hoyamka after December 22 is asked to turn them in to avoid aggravating the situation. All pet stores will also be closed for inspection and disinfection. In addition, authorities will test rabbits, chinchillas and guinea pigs. The opening of pet stores will take place as they pass the check and only on the condition that no animals are infected or infected animals are eliminated.
A similar situation in 2020 happened with minks. Scientists have recorded cases of infection on fur farms in the United States, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and beyond. Moreover, in the Netherlands, the fact of the transmission of the virus from mink to humans was recorded. Because of this news, Denmark decided to euthanize all the minks in the country, which she later regretted. The decision to destroy several thousand minks was also made on one of the farms in Spain. On farms in the Netherlands where the coronavirus was discovered, they also decided to euthanize all minks.
bbabo.Net