Did Hamsters Infect a Woman with Covid-19?

Hamsters can easily spread viruses, says Yuen

I was going to write about the absurdity of Chinese claims that a piece of mail from Toronto that arrived in Beijing had Covid-19 causing at least two people to be infected, but now that insanity has been topped by Hong Kong health officials announcing some 2,000 hamsters will be culled, claiming some of them tested preliminary positive and could spread the virus in the city.

But first the mail.

The Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said traces of the Omicron variant was found on a letter mailed from Toronto and and suggested it could have been the source of the infection for the recipient.

Health Canada says virus on mail extremely low

Was there any genome sequencing done to verify if it is similar to Canadian strains of Omicron?

Nevertheless upon receiving media enquiries, Health Canada said while mail could be contaminated, "the risk of Covid-19 infection when handling paper mail or cardboard packages, including international mail, is extremely low.

"In general, coronavirus including variants do not spread from products or packaging shipped over a period of days or weeks," the health agency said.

Despite debunking Chinese concerns, Beijing has ordered the country's residents to stop ordering things from high-risk countries (basically anywhere in the world), and if they do receive mail, they must be double vaccinated and open the package outside the home wearing gloves.

Is this an inadvertent way to slow down or stop the posting of goods into China, such as illicit goods during the Olympics? In any event it is not a case heard elsewhere around the world, and sounds like a desperate attempt at trying to deflect attention away from the country's issues in battling the virus?

Meanwhile in Hong Kong things are becoming just as absurd.

China orders people to open their mail outside

This afternoon at a press conference held by the Centre for Health Protection, health officials announced that some 2,000 hamsters must be culled as some tested positive for Covid-19, and 11 of them were linked to two infected people who worked in a pet shop in Causeway Bay.

They believe this is the first animal-to-human transmission of the virus. All 34 licensed pet shops that sell hamsters must suspend operations, and the 150 customers who visited Little Boss shop must go into quarantine (and surrender the little furry creatures). 

The cull applies to all hamsters that were bought since December 22, when a shipment of the animals arrived from the Netherlands. They were transferred to a warehouse in Tai Po and a second shipment arrived on January 7.

"We have assessed the risks of these batches are relatively high and therefore made the decision based on public health needs," said Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Dr Leung Siu-fai. "We urge all pet owners to observe strict hygiene when handling their pets and cages, Do not kiss or abandon them on the streets."

When doing the genomic sequencing, Dr Yuen Kwok-yung of the University of Hong Kong said they had trouble mapping out the mutations from the sample taken from the shop assistant. 

A shop assistant was infected... by hamsters?

Wasn't she wearing a mask? How could a hamster transmit the virus to her?

"Some mutations found in that worker's [sample] could not be identified in a global genomic data bank," he said. "Experts are concerned whether there are any problems with those mutations... that's why we need to be extra cautious."

While some of the hamsters have tested preliminary positive -- and by the way, how are they tested? -- Yuen said it would take time for hamsters to show symptoms after infection, and keeping 2,000 alive could pose health risks to people looking after them.

"Hamsters are often used to do experiments because they are very sensitive to viruses and are easily infected. They usually release a great amount of virus in the first 10 days of being infected," he explained, calling the decision to cull the animals "decisive and wise".

The health authorities said the animals would be tested before being put down.

But those assurances sparked serious concern among animal welfare groups, including the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, saying the AFCD should review its approach before taking "drastic action".

Some 2,000 hamsters will be culled

This evening people in hazmat suits arrived at the aforementioned pet shop with people looking on. 

How do parents explain to their children that their recently acquired pet hamster needs to be surrendered and destroyed?

Can parents sue the government for causing the emotional distress of their children?

The culling of these animals reminds me of the "Four Pests Campaign" during the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1962, when rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows were to be eliminated. 

Sparrows were thought to consume four pounds of grain per bird, and so the Chinese set out to stop these animals from robbing their food. They banged pots and pans to make it so noisy for the sparrows that they couldn't rest in their nests and would drop dead from the sky. Their eggs were smashed, chicks killed.

What happened? The sparrows were nearly killed into extinction, and resulted in a surge in bed bugs...

Hong Kong Still Isn't Buying It

Zhang encourages Hong Kong to take an active role in One Belt, One Road

Senior Chinese official Zhang Dejiang's visit to Hong Kong was his attempt to soothe anger and frustration at Beijing and the Leung Chun-ying administration.

While he probably bent over backwards more than other Chinese officials would have, for Hong Kong people it wasn't enough.

He was keen to demonstrate to the city -- and Taiwan -- that Beijing supposedly accepts the plurality of opinions in Hong Kong, and that while there are calls for independence, they are only a small -- make that very small -- group.

Opposition to Communist rule still simmers in Hong Kong

With that, and meeting with four pan-democrats, Zhang was hoping turn the tide of opinion to his side, but did he manage to do it?

Opinions are still entrenched depending on which side you're on; there is no middle ground.

This past Monday was the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution. For those who were alive at the time, those memories are still vivid, particularly those whose families were persecuted, physically attacked or worse killed.

Those who managed to escape the madness went to Hong Kong to rebuild their lives. But it wasn't only then -- they did it during the Great Leap Forward and before that when the Communists came to power.

They have told their haunting stories to their children and grandchildren so that no one will forget what Mao and the Party did to them.

And then 1997 happened, with Hong Kong people thrilled to see the backs of the British, but really it was just trading one master for another without any proper resolution.

Memories of the Cultural Revolution are still fresh

And it's even harder to accept our new master, who hasn't really had a good track record when it comes to looking after its people and its hypocritical political ideology.

Come July 1 it will be 19 years since the mainland reclaimed Hong Kong and Beijing still doesn't understand many Hong Kong people's skepticism.

Then there's the One Belt, One Road strategy.

China is keen for Hong Kong to take part, and Leung has been touting it constantly as something the city should be rallying behind.

Hong Kong has no experience in eastern Europe and western China, and if some entrepreneurs have tried to set up businesses they were dismal failures because they were not familiar with business practices there.

But with Zhang bringing up the topic again in a summit here, the media noted tycoons and bureaucrats looked glum. They probably knew that Beijing was expecting Hong Kong to pitch in with money. Lots of it.

One business columnist summed it up succinctly:

Because it's all about the money. Hong Kong's paramount value to Beijing is to act as a world-class financier to fund China's ambitions. Anything else that citizens consider essential for social stability -- democracy, self-determination, independence, a high degree of autonomy, property prices -- are trivial banquet conversation.

Then he ominously ends by saying, "Hong Kong, this is your life. Welcome to it."

Not exactly optimistic...

Here We Go Again Part II

China adviser on HK affairs Rao Geping says its time for national education

The touchy subject of national education has come up again post-Occupy and now with the second round of public consultation over political reform with regards to universal suffrage.

A Basic Law Committee member has suggested the Hong Kong government should try to introduce national education again into the school system with greater emphasis on Chinese culture rather than ideology.

Rao Geping, a mainland law professor who advises Beijing on Hong Kong affairs says the local government should do more to remove the legacy of its colonial past to ward off anti-mainland sentiment among young people.

"Hong Kong hasn't done ideally in educating its youth about how to adapt its status under 'one country, two systems'," he said at a two-day forum in Beijing hosted by the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies on the political implications of the city's education.

"Many young people haven't been able to get used to the fact that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. They grew up with a lack of national education, coupled with sentiments against the Communist Party of China, which has led to some of them being on the political front line.

"I think national education should be introduced again, but with an emphasis put on Chinese history and culture, but not ideology. We should have it in schools."

He added there were contradictions between the education system that Hong Kong inherited from colonial days and the one it should have as part of China -- so young people should be taught about "decolonization".

Fung Wai-wah thinks China should set a good example first

First of all, has Rao ever spent much time in Hong Kong? When we try to Google his name, he is apparently head of the Center for Hong Kong and Macao Studies, but the link does not work -- in fact every other link related to him opens to "problem loading page". Hmmmm.

Which makes one quickly understand he is speaking strictly as a mainlander and not as someone who understands Hong Kong by any capacity.

He blames the Hong Kong government for not doing more to make young people understand the city is a part of China, but they do. It was drilled into their heads when 1997 came along, and after the handover, well, just the sheer number of mainland tourists made them realize that learning Putonghua would be a crucial part of their education.

But for the government to try to remove Hong Kong's colonial past is like China denying the Cultural Revolution ever happened, let alone Tiananmen Square. Hong Kong is the way it is because of the British and will forever be a part of the city's history whether the Chinese like it or not.

If they wanted to whitewash Hong Kong's colonial history then they should have removed all the British names of streets and buildings and given them other ones. But that would be too confusing so let it be.

More importantly Rao seems to forget -- or perhaps he doesn't even know -- that Hong Kong was a refuge for people escaping from the mainland. They were fleeing from Communism and the horrors of people starving to death from the Great Leap Forward and the psychological terror of the Cultural Revolution... He should know since what we can find out about him is that he was born in 1948...

But Fung Wai-wah, president of the pan-democrat Professional Teachers' Union, said even if national education had been introduced, it would not have strengthened Hong Kong students' national identity.

"A school subject is only a very small part of students' lives," he said. "What really leaves a big impact is how mainlanders affect Hong Kong, how Beijing treats Hong Kong and what's been happening in the mainland."

He said Hong Kong people, especially young people, had negative views on those three issues, and that to alter those perceptions, Beijing would have to bring about change on all three fronts.

This is true -- everyday interaction with mainlanders and what news they read affects Hong Kong people's opinions of China. There are still a good number who have never crossed the border because of what they have read or seen about China in the media, or they had heard stories from their families or relatives about fleeing the mainland in the 1940s to the 1970s.

Perhaps Beijing should think about cleaning house -- not just the corruption, but also food security, people's manners, and the pollution -- to demonstrate it is a peaceful rising power, as former President Hu Jintao claimed.

Maybe then young Hong Kong people will have a better impression of China and then maybe will be more receptive to national education?

Sending the Wrong Message

Beijing's white paper gave an unintended negative impression to Hong Kong

The 787,427 votes from the referendum were analyzed last night. About 42.1 percent chose the proposal from the Alliance for True Democracy, followed by Scholarism at 38.4 percent and then 10.4 percent for People Power.

And of the second question, 88 percent agreed that the Legislative Council should veto any reform proposal put forward by the government if it failed to meet international standards.

"Today should go down in the history of Hong Kong's constitutional development as the referendum was the largest scale of expression of public opinion in the city's history," said Benny Tai Yiu-ting, co-organizer of Occupy Central.

He said he would submit the results to Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

And we can imagine Beijing will be wondering what to do next.

A mainland source who was involved in drafting the white paper showed Beijing still needed to learn how to better communicate with Hong Kong.

"Judging from the reaction in the past few weeks, it has fallen short of the central government's expectations," the sources said.

"A substantial number of people are worried that Beijing intends to tighten its grip on Hong Kong and even take back some power from Hong Kong. Actually this is wrong.

"But there is a need for the central government to improve its communications with Hong Kongers in future. There is room for improvement in how we present messages.

"How can we explain our stances in a manner and style Hong Kongers deem more acceptable?"

Uh, how about never?

There are great number of Hong Kong people who fled Communist China. It was only two generations ago. Those in their sixties and older definitely remember how they fled to the city or via Macau.

They saw first hand the Communist Revolution, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. They came to Hong Kong to escape from persecution, the chaos and madness.

Some lost family members, property and assets to the Communists.

Memories like that are hard to wipe out.

Hong Kong was their safe haven. But with the approach of 1997 they were worried about seeing PLA tanks and soldiers marching down the streets.

However that didn't happen and so their fears were eased -- until now.

Why would they trust anything that comes out of the Communist Party's mouth?

So if the Chinese government can somehow undo over 60 years of nightmares, then perhaps it has a chance of winning Hong Kong people's trust.

But it can't so trying to rectify its PR image is a steep uphill battle.

All we can say is, good luck!