Hong Kong authorities announced today that they will cull about 2,000 hamsters after several small rodents tested positive for COVID-19 at a pet store where an employee infected with the novel coronavirus worked.
The authorities said they would suspend the sale and import of these tiny rodents in the city.
Although authorities admitted there was “no evidence” that these pets could transmit the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to humans, the decision was taken as a precaution.
Customers who have purchased hamsters in the relevant store will be searched after January 7 and must undergo a mandatory quarantine, during which they have to hand the animals over to the authorities for slaughter.
Officials also said that all pet stores selling hamsters in Hong Kong should stop marketing.
Customers who purchased hamsters in Hong Kong from December 22 will also undergo mandatory testing and will be advised not to live with anyone until they are diagnosed.
The Covid-19 virus has killed 5,537,051 people worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the latest report by Agence France-Presse.
The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which was discovered in late 2019 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
A new variant, micron, classified as worrisome and highly contagious by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been discovered in South Africa, and since South African health authorities issued the alert in November, it has become dominant in many countries, including… in Portugal.