By The SUN
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| Samples taken from I Love Rabbit pet shops in Tai Po and Causeway Bay tested positive for Delta |
A compulsory testing
notice has been issued for two branches of the I Love Rabbit pet shops where
environmental samples have tested positive for Covid-19 with the Delta variant.
This follows reports that the number of people linked to the so-called pet shop cluster had risen to eight as of yesterday.
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A press release issued by the Centre for Health Protection Friday night gave the addresses of the shop’s two branches as 345 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay and Tai Po Plaza.
According to CHP, as at Jan 21 evening, a total of 738 environmental samples from 40 pet shops and warehouses had been collected. A total of 30 samples tested positive for the virus, including those taken from the two shops.
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As a result, all those who had been to the shops between Jan 7 and Jan 18 will have to undergo compulsory testing on indicated dates. Staff will be moved to quarantine centers.
“Based on the results of epidemiological investigation and laboratory findings the CHP possesses at this stage, it could not be ruled out preliminarily that the positive test results of the environmental samples are caused by the pets infected with the virus,” said the statement.
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The pet shop has been linked to at least one of the infected patients in the cluster.
The first infection was detected in a shop assistant at the Little Boss pet shop in Causeway Bay. As the source of her infection could not be traced, and Delta has been overtaken by the Omicron as the dominant variant, tests were conducted on all the animals in the shop on Monday.
The tests showed 11
hamsters there carried the variant, prompting officials to order the mass cull
of about 2,000 small animals in the shop and its warehouse in Tai Po.
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They also ordered all owners of hamsters bought starting on Dec 22 when the first batch of infected animals arrived in Hong Kong, to hand over their pets to be put down. Many resisted, and an animal rights groups told the owners to give their pets to them instead.
In response, the Animals and Fisheries Conservation Department warned of police prosecution for those who refuse to abide by the order.
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In a surprise move, Chief Executive Carrie Lam joined in the fray, and condemnded people who had sent threatening letters to government health advisers who had endorsed the mass cull.
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