HONG KONG — Hong Kong has asked pet shops and owners to hand over close to 2,000 hamsters for culling by authorities, after 11 of the small rodents tested positive for the coronavirus in a pet shop. The territory has also suspended the import of small animals.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       Authorities announced the decision Tuesday after the city’s health experts found two groups of hamsters, which originated from the Netherlands and arrived in Hong Kong on Dec. 22 and Jan. 7, to be “high-risk” for carrying the coronavirus. The hamsters turned over by pet owners will be killed to “cut the transmission chain,” health officials said.

       “Evidence shows that the hamsters are infected with the COVID-19 virus. It is impossible to quarantine and observe each of them and their incubation period could be long,” said Leung Siu-fai, director of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

       Hong Kong had a year to vaccinate its elderly. As omicron spreads, low uptake has left them vulnerable.

       The role of pets in coronavirus transmission has been studied and debated since the start of the pandemic, but for the most part, infection appears to be a one-way street, with animals catching the virus from their owners and generally recovering quickly.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the risk of animals spreading the virus to people “low” but noted that it “can spread from people to animals during close contact.” The exception appears to be minks, with cases of humans getting infected by them.

       In 2020, Denmark culled some 17 million minks after they were found to be at risk of carrying the coronavirus. The government later admitted that the minks were improperly killed and buried, and a commission has been established to look into the case.

       In cramped Hong Kong, hamsters have been popular as cute and low-maintenance pets.

       The city, like mainland China, is holding firm to a policy of “zero covid,” imposing extreme 21-day quarantine requirements on any overseas arrivals. The territory was able to maintain zero local infections for weeks until December, when two flight attendants returning from the United States who were infected with the highly transmissible omicron variant went out into the community.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       Last week, a 23-year-old woman working at a pet shop called Little Boss in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay was found to be infected with the delta variant, which has been rare in the city. At the same time, several hamsters in the pet shop also tested positive for the coronavirus. Health officials in Hong Kong are now investigating this as a possible case of animal-to-human transmission because two more human infections, one confirmed and one preliminary positive, were linked to the pet store.

       Thomas Sit, veterinarian and assistant director of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, said that the government did not want to cull all the hamsters but that it was a public health decision.

       “You need to realize that the hamsters [which] have already got infected are excreting the virus; they can infect other animals, other hamsters and human beings,” Sit said. “We have to protect public health and we have no choice.”

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       Sit added that if investigations found the hamsters were infected during importation, special testing on hamsters would be added before future imports, and the government will gauge other risks for other animals later.

       Health authorities have now ordered all pet shops selling hamsters to shut, as well as mandatory testing of all who have purchased a hamster since Dec. 22.

       “We urge all pet owners to observe strict hygiene when handling their pets and cages. Do not kiss or abandon them on the streets,” Leung said.

       Hong Kong’s government has responded to the most recent coronavirus wave by imposing some of the strictest social distancing and isolation measures since the start of the pandemic here two years ago. Flights from eight countries including the United States and Britain and transit flights from 150 countries are banned, and students have returned to home learning.

       Read more:

       Hong Kong is clinging to ‘zero covid’ and extreme quarantine. Talent is leaving in droves.

       Hong Kong bans all flights from U.S. and seven other countries as omicron spreads

       Danish government may exhume hundreds of thousands of dead minks and burn them