An employee of the Little Boss pet store tested positive for the virus earlier, and a hamster in the store also tested positive for the virus.
The government announced the humane destruction of hamsters and other small animals in the store and the store's warehouse in Tai Po.
In addition, the authorities also appealed to citizens who purchased hamsters anywhere in Hong Kong on December 22 to hand over the hamsters to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for "humane handling".
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has culled a total of 1,213 small animals until yesterday, and received more than 60 hamsters handed over by the public as of 5 pm.
The bureau's approach has drawn social criticism, and some expert advisers also commented on the incident, including government expert advisers Yuan Guoyong and Xu Shuchang.
Yuan Guoyong said bluntly yesterday that he received "an email that told me to die" because of his remarks.
Another expert, Xu Shuchang, also revealed today (20th) that he also received a similar email, and some citizens criticized his remarks as "inhuman and anti-intellectual", pointing out that "I hope you will pass away as soon as possible and wait for retribution."
▼1.18 Causeway Bay Little Boss had hamsters and environmental samples were positive▼
▼1.18 AFCD personnel destroy animals at Little Boss in Causeway Bay▼
+9
Xu Shuchang received an email criticizing support for the "inhumane, anti-intellectual" culling decision of the authorities
Xu Shuchang, chair professor of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at CUHK, pointed out in a radio program yesterday that the authorities had decided to conduct a video conference on humanitarian destruction in advance.
When asked if it was necessary to cull all the small animals in the warehouse, he bluntly said, "The public health perspective will not follow you one by one."
Xu Shuchang revealed to "Hong Kong 01" today that he received a threatening email with the subject of "I hope you will die soon and wait for your retribution". The right to dominate life," and asked him, "Do you think killing animals will help with viruses?"
Xu Shuchang pointed out that he has received similar threatening emails from time to time in the past two years, and he does not plan to report the incident to the police. He believes that citizens have been linking anti-epidemic issues to government expert advisers from time to time. ".
Yuan Guoyong, a government expert advisor and chair professor of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Hong Kong, has previously praised the authorities for killing rats as "decisive" and "wise". He also pointed out that the mutual transmission of hamsters constitutes a genetic mutation, which does not rule out reinfection of humans. I really don’t want to see a hamster who has developed a mutant virus, and then spread it to people and even the whole world.” In addition, hamsters do not get sick immediately, and it is impossible to do daily testing.
He later admitted that he understood that the relevant decisions of the authorities were unpopular, and pointed out that the government had expected a greater response from the public, but hoped that the public would view the incident from the perspective of epidemic prevention and public health. damn email".
Rat Killing Order｜The hamster concern organization received about 60 cases of abandonment appeals to observe the health of the hamsters first Rat Killing Order｜Afforestation and Conservation Department: LittleBoss Tai Po warehouse has rats Chu Yang is investigating whether the rat is transmitted from human to human The rat killing order｜Xu Shuchang: hamsters The virus has a high chance of being transmitted to humans, and a rodent killing order is required from a public health perspective.
