HONG KONG - Dozens of pet stores that sold hamsters in Hong Kong may resume business from Sunday, Hong Kong's government said, after being shuttered last week and thousands culled over coronavirus fears.Imported hamsters from Holland into the Chinese territory had been cited as the source.
Five stores, including the Little Boss pet shop, which started the outbreak, remained shuttered as they had not yet"passed the virus test", the government said. "All the other concerned pet shops on the other hand have been thoroughly disinfected and cleaned and the environmental swabs collected from these shops have all passed the Covid-19 virus test," it said., offering a one-off payment of up to HK$30,000 .
People who had in recent weeks bought hamsters - popular apartment pets in the congested city - were ordered to surrender them for testing and what the government described as"humane dispatch". Thousands of people offered to adopt unwanted hamsters amid a public outcry against the government and its pandemic advisers, which authorities called irrational.Hong Kong researchers have found evidence that pet hamsters can spread Covid-19However, the economic and psychological tolls from Hong Kong's hardline approach to curbing the virus are rapidly rising, residents say, with measures becoming more draconian than those first enforced in 2020.
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