After a female clerk and a customer of Causeway Bay pet store Little Boss were diagnosed, the government decided to cull hamsters in all pet stores in Hong Kong, and strongly advised the public to hand over the hamsters purchased after December 22 last year, which has drawn a lot of criticism.
Liang Zhaohui, director of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, said bluntly on a radio program this morning (22nd), "If you wait until the research is clear, you will not be able to afford it. If you do research while spreading, many people will be affected." He also admitted that the department did not have the appropriate equipment and measures to conduct repeated tests on animals. In terms of balancing animal welfare and public health, "the need to compete at the same time, cut off the chain of transmission, and protect the public is not welcome. Decision."
In response to the behavior of animal volunteers to "save rats" at the New Territories South Animal Management Center, he pointed out that some citizens complained to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department that the hamster had been snatched away. Do the same thing again."
Xu Shuchang, an expert advisor to the government and a chair professor of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at CUHK, explained that the Delta AY.127 variant virus carried by the hamster involved has never appeared in Hong Kong, and he believes that there is a greater chance of importing it from overseas.
The clerk of the pet involved had contact with the hamsters in the batch on January 7, and then became ill on January 11. The time coincided with the clerk. The citizen handed over the hamster for the AFCD to deal with.
▼1.18 Causeway Bay Little Boss had hamsters and environmental samples were positive▼
Leung Zhaohui pointed out that the practice of culling after testing is not feasible: I can't afford to do it after research is clear
The Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Leung Shiu-fai pointed out that the Agriculture and Fisheries Department has collected a total of 77 hamsters abandoned by their breeders, of which 71 have been sampled for testing, but the testing has not been completed.
When asked about the controversial approach, he pointed out that referring to epidemiological studies, it is a consistent practice to humanely destroy animals with high contagiousness in zoonotic infectious diseases. The authorities have considered several aspects when discussing relevant measures. The confirmed store staff has no travel history, and it is confirmed that they have been infected with the Delta AY.127 variant virus that has not appeared in Hong Kong recently. There are positive samples of hamsters in the store and the environment, and the hamsters are also confirmed to be infected.
Secondly, the hamsters in the warehouse in Tai Po of the store were also infected, but the clerk had never been to the warehouse, so it was believed at that time that the virus might be transmitted from hamsters to humans.
At the peak of the fifth wave of the epidemic, Liang Zhaohui said bluntly: "If you wait for the research to be clear, you will not be able to afford it. If you do research while spreading, many people will be affected." Therefore, he believes that the first thing to do is to cut off the chain of transmission.
This is the first time in Hong Kong that hamsters have been infected with the new coronavirus in a non-lab environment. The authorities do not have much information on this, and considering that the new coronavirus has an incubation period, I believe that even if the animals are isolated for testing, it does not mean that the animals do not carry the virus. Virus.
However, the authorities did not have the proper equipment and measures to conduct repeated tests on animals. With the premise of controlling risks and protecting the health of the public, the authorities decided to humanely destroy the same batch of hamsters.
Leung emphasized that in balancing animal welfare and public health, the authorities have narrowed down the scope to two groups of affected hamsters as much as possible, "At present, there is no large facility in Hong Kong that handles more than a thousand animals, and it is necessary to compete at the same time, cut the chain of transmission, and protect the public. Foreword, it is not a popular decision to make.”
▼On January 19, AFCD went to Little Boss Mong Kok branch to humanely destroy small animals▼
▼1.20 Volunteers went to the New Territories South Animal Management Center to "Save the Rats"▼
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Understand that animal lovers want to save lives, but there are health risks involved and call for no more "saving rats"
Recently, citizens have successively brought hamsters to the New Territories South Animal Management Center in Shatin, and some animal volunteers spontaneously "saved the mice" outside the door.
Leung Zhaohui pointed out that he understands that animal lovers want to save lives as much as possible, but he hopes that they will understand the public health risks involved in this year. Department of Health), we will conduct tests, and if there is a virus, we will immediately follow up with the Centre for Health Protection,” so that affected citizens can receive treatment as soon as possible.
Regarding the behavior of the animal volunteers, he also pointed out that some citizens complained to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department that they felt their hamsters were taken away.
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Xu Shuchang, a government expert advisor and chair professor of the Department of Respiratory System at CUHK, also explained that the clerk of the pet involved had contact with a batch of hamsters on January 7, and then became ill on January 11. The time coincided with her infection. For others, there is quite a bit of evidence that the virus is passed from hamsters to humans.
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Xu Shuchang pointed out that there is a lot of evidence that the virus is transmitted from hamsters to humans
Xu Shuchang, a government expert advisor and chair professor of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at CUHK, said that the Delta AY.127 variant virus carried by the hamster involved has never appeared in Hong Kong. He believes that there is a greater chance of importing it from overseas, and the chance of severe illness caused by Delta is higher than that of Omicron. Higher, higher risk.
The clerk of the pet involved had contact with the hamsters in the batch on January 7, and then became ill on January 11. The time coincided with her infection. Call on the public to hand over the hamster for the AFCD to deal with.
▼1.19 Citizens hand in hamsters to the New Territories South Animal Management Center under the "Rat Killing Order"▼
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There are two fronts in Hong Kong. It is estimated that the relaxation of social measures may not be possible on the fourth day of the new year.
In addition, the kindergarten teacher of Xuezhiyuan, who was diagnosed earlier, and a confirmed patient once walked through the tunnel of Mei Foo MTR station at the same time, about 9 seconds apart, and the Centre for Health Protection was suspected of contracting the virus.
Xu Shuchang pointed out that the transmissibility of the Omicron variant virus is four to eight times higher than that of Delta and other viruses, but ordinary masks can only block larger droplet particles. Go, "It's really not a good thing to be able to say."
He described that Hong Kong is facing the two fronts of Omicron and Delta variant viruses, and it is estimated that social distancing measures may not be relaxed on the fourth day of the new year.
He hoped that the public could do a good job of epidemic prevention, and called on private companies to let their employees work from home to reduce the flow of people on public transport and in the market; citizens should also avoid cross-family gatherings when the New Year is approaching.
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