Hong Kong quarantines pets after dog tests positive for coronavirus

[Isabella]

Pets cannot carry the coronavirus, experts have said, after authorities in Hong Kong quarantined a dog and pledged to isolate more.

The Hong Kong quarantine is the first reported case anywhere in the world of a government restricting pets over the outbreak.

The canine, a Pomeranian, has been placed in quarantine for 14 days as a precaution but has no "relevant symptoms", Hong Kong officials said.

"Nasal and oral cavity samples tested weak positive for COVID-19," a government spokesman said without explaining why they tested the animal in the first place.

He said it was unclear whether the dog had actually contracted the virus or tested positive for low levels due to environmental contamination of the dog's mouth and nose.

The animal was collected from the owner's home on Wednesday after the 60-year-old woman was diagnosed with the contagion and placed in a hospital isolation ward.

It would be closely monitored, undergo further tests and held in quarantine until it returned a negative result, authorities said.

There is no evidence domestic animals such as dogs and cats can catch the virus or transmit it to humans but the department said all pets of infected people should be quarantined and tested for the virus for 14 days.   However, Professor Jonathan Ball, a molecular virologist at Nottingham University, said testing the dog was a “red herring”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/28/pet-dog-coronavirus-victim-tests-positive-infection/