Hong Kong will finish a year-long ban on importing hamsters because the area unwinds its strict COVID-19 insurance policies.
“Our workers will prepare to gather samples from hamsters and different small mammals for COVID-19 testing,” a spokesperson for town’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Division (AFCD) instructed the BBC. “They’ll solely be bought if the take a look at outcomes are destructive.”
Hong Kong banned the import of hamsters after officers traced an outbreak of the Delta variant final yr to a pet store worker. Officers discovered 11 hamsters imported from the Netherlands carried the virus, resulting in a cull of round 2,000 animals to cease the virus spreading amid concern of animal-to-human transmission.
Research discovered that rodents, together with mink and hamsters, might carry the coronavirus. Six international locations, together with the U.S., Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Sweden, famous the presence of the virus amongst mink populations, prompting the cull of lots of of 1000’s of mink in 2020.
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Denmark, the world’s largest mink fur producer, needed to cull 17 million mink alone in November 2020.
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Vanessa Barrs, a professor of companion animal well being on the Metropolis College of Hong Kong, instructed the BBC that subsequent testing confirmed that the virus had transferred from hamsters to people, forcing the federal government to behave “out of an abundance of warning at the moment.”
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A petition on the time didn’t dissuade the federal government from following by means of on the cull, prompting outrage amongst animal lovers and lots of native residents.
One pet store proprietor famous that the shortage of hamsters hit gross sales laborious because the animals show extremely in style amongst kids.
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Hamsters made up round 20% of the store’s income, and the shopkeeper revealed that she already had an inventory of round a dozen folks – primarily kids – already trying to purchase hamsters as quickly as they’re obtainable.
The newest danger evaluation issued Thursday decided that the industrial import of hamsters could be acceptable and may begin mid-January.
Hong Kong, whereas a part of China, holds a novel standing as a “particular administrative area,” one in every of two — together with Macau — that permit the very best diploma of autonomy inside China and for the areas to set their very own restrictions associated to COVID-19.
Hong Kong dropped nearly all COVID-related restrictions final month following the same resolution on mainland China. Beijing’s “zero-COVID” coverage might need appeared a lightweight contact in comparison with Hong Kong’s restrictions, which included a seven-hour airport screening for returning residents and rigorous follow-up checks for testing.
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However with the rollback of the strict measures, Hong Kong has seen its demise price skyrocket, hitting a weekly common of round 9 deaths per million – a price almost six occasions that of the U.S., in keeping with Quartz.
Reuters contributed to this report.
