Hong Kong will resume hamster imports later this month, officers stated Thursday, almost a yr after some 2,000 pet rodents had been culled on the top of the town’s coronavirus outbreak.
The Chinese language finance hub halted the business import of the small mammals final January after a pet retailer employee and almost a dozen hamsters examined optimistic for the Delta variant.
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As a part of the town’s strict zero-Covid coverage, authorities additionally ordered hamster homeowners to give up their pets for culling, sparking an outcry from animal activists and plenty of residents.
Hamsters can as soon as once more be imported on the market in Hong Kong beginning this month, however provided that they take a look at unfavourable for the coronavirus, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Division informed AFP on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s marketing campaign towards hamsters passed off within the early days of an Omicron outbreak that in the end killed round 9,000 folks and signalled the collapse of the town’s Covid defences.
That outbreak left Hong Kong with one of many highest per capita fatality charges on this planet final yr, fuelled principally by aged individuals who had declined to get vaccinated.
The federal government defended its hardline measures, partly citing scientific analysis that confirmed Syrian hamsters may get contaminated with Covid-19 and cross it on to people.
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Critics noticed the cull as an illustration of the form of strict guidelines that hammered the town’s financial system, sparked an exodus of residents and left it internationally remoted for greater than two years.
The import ban, which initially utilized to all small mammals, was narrowed to solely hamsters in Could.
The town started enjoyable its pandemic curbs in September, with mainland China following swimsuit by the top of the yr, although in Hong Kong some management measures similar to obligatory indoor and outside masking stay.