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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Linda Geddes

Hamsters can transmit Covid to humans, data suggests

A hamster
A hamster owned by Cheung, a member of an online hamster community who volunteered to foster abandoned small animals in light of the cull in Hong Kong. Photograph: Bertha Wang/AFP/Getty

Pet hamsters can transmit Covid to humans and are the likely source of a recent outbreak of the Delta variant in Hong Kong, data suggests.

The research confirms fears that a pet shop was the source of a recent Covid outbreak in the city, which has seen at least 50 people infected and led to the culling of more than 2,200 hamsters.

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