Re <<Omicron has peaked>>
… if so, and when so, we are ready for something different then.
In Hong Kong we are IPO-ing new variants
If it was up to me, all creatures should be allowed to live a full life, but, as in however, between lives of nameless hamsters and our Whiskey, Whiskey gets my vote.
bloomberg.com
Hamster-to-Human Covid Theory Gains Traction in Hong Kong
Jinshan Hong
January 20, 2022, 7:37 PM GMT+8
Residents take their small pets to be culled at a facility in the Shatin area of Hong Kong on Jan. 19.Photographer: Beertha Wang/AFP/Getty Images
Hong Kong officials said they were more confident about the possibility that pet hamsters are spreading Covid in the city as newly uncovered infections are genetically distinct from the virus initially found in a pet shop clerk.
A female customer who tested positive after visiting the store has a strain that’s slightly different from the virus found in the 23-year-old index patient, an employee at the Little Boss pet shop, based on four small variations in its genetic code. The customer’s husband, who also tested positive for Covid, has the same strain, health officials said on a Thursday briefing.
It would make sense for the suspected hamsters to be the original source, according to the officials, since they could have carried different strains of virus when they were imported. They could each then pass on a slightly different version to humans, creating multiple transmission chains. Already more than 2,000 of the small pets, including rabbits and chinchillas, were ordered culled.
In addition to the genetic results, more infections emerged in people who had exposure to hamsters and pet shops. A 30-year-old who purchased a hamster at Little Boss tested positive after arriving in a quarantine facility. A customer who visited an I Love Rabbit pet shop in a different part of town tested preliminarily positive, while a hamster cage in yet another I Love Rabbit location also was harboring the virus. I Love Rabbit is part of the same business group as Little Boss.
The pet shop infections were all caused by the delta variant, though some had slight genetic changes. The city confirmed one additional untraceable infection with delta in a 17-year-old male student. The teenager is carrying a different form of the virus than the other delta patients, doesn’t have pets and hasn’t recently visited a pet shop.
Officials suspect he could have gotten it from someone previously infected by animals, with an unknown chain of transmission.
Hamster Probe“The likelihood of animal spread to human increased a lot,” health official Chuang Shuk-kwan said at the briefing, pointing out that the virus is nearly identical when it spreads from one human to another. She urged residents to not hesitate to turn in their hamsters for culling, or else risk endangering public health.
Before the pet shop flare-up, the city has been battling an outbreak of the omicron variant in the community. Delta’s arrival came as a shock because the Asian financial hub fended it off in 2021, making it one of the only places in the world to avoid an outbreak with the virulent variant.
The hamster probe is part of Hong Kong’s commitment to a Covid Zero policy that aims to eradicate the virus within its borders. The government is drilling down deeply, trying to track every case. The effort includes a report about one person who may have contracted the virus when passing someone who was infected in a subway tunnel for nine seconds, even though both were wearing masks and they were walking in opposite directions.
The city reported 10 local cases Thursday. Officials said there are about 20 preliminary infections, with many being local cases.
The authorities will halt in-person secondary school classes starting on Monday, following the closure of primary schools and kindergartens last week. A handful of confirmed and preliminary cases reported Thursday involved students.
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