Covid-19 vaccination: get shots before winter to avoid severe illness, Hong Kong experts warn, while officials confirm update of local jabs record
- New study’s findings show hamsters housed in cold conditions had significantly higher virus concentration and viral loads seven days after being infected
- City confirms seven imported Covid-19 cases from the Philippines, Ghana and India
The study, led by University of Hong Kong associate professor Jasper Chan Fuk-woo and top microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, found that hamsters housed at low temperatures had their neutralising antibody responses suppressed and suffered more severe reactions to the disease.
The hamsters were each given the same dose of the Sars-CoV-2 virus – which causes Covid-19 – and then housed at three separate temperatures: 12-15 degrees Celsius, 21 degrees and 30-33 degrees.
The team’s findings showed the disease replicated better in the airways of the hamsters kept at lower temperatures, causing more severe inflammation and persistent damage to their respiratory tracts.
All of the hamsters in the colder environment showed significantly higher virus concentration and viral loads seven days after being infected.
