It is a precautionary measure to rule out any risk of transmission, Hong Kong’s Health Councilor Sophia Chan said on Tuesday.
After the employee and a customer were infected with corona, eleven hamsters from the pet shop tested positive for the virus. The store was closed. Around 2,000 hamsters and other small animals from around a dozen pet shops are to be killed. The health authority also quarantined around 150 customers of the affected store and more than 20 employees.
No proof of transfer
The import of small mammals will be stopped for the time being, it said. Health Councilor Chan admitted that there is no international evidence of corona transmission from pets to humans.
Animal lovers reacted with outrage. “Can anyone save these hamsters and other small animals?” wrote a member of the more than 10,000 member Hamster Blog HK Facebook group. Another user poked fun at the authorities: The officials should rather “go to Wuhan and help the bats wear two masks at the same time,” he wrote, alluding to the suspected transmission of the virus through bats as host animals.