The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging pet owners confirmed positive with COVID-19 to restrict contact with their pets after a dog in Hong Kong tested "weakly positive" for the highly contagious disease now present and spreading in 58 countries.
It said infected pet owners should avoid "petting, snuggling, being kissed or licked, and sharing food" with their animals. WHO pointed out there is currently no evidence suggesting pets like dogs or cats can be infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. It did, however, warn the COVID-19 situation is still evolving.
The COVID-19 virus has been identified as "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" (SARS-CoV-2) by WHO. Its original animal host is unknown, but it might have originated either in bats or in ant-eating pangolins popular in China as exotic food. This virus was somehow transferred to humans in what's called a zoonotic infection.
As a precaution, the Hong Kong government said it would collect cats, dogs, and other domesticated mammals whose owners are positive for COVID-19 and are quarantined. These animals will be delivered to a "designated animal keeping" facility in the city for quarantine and veterinary surveillance.
All this followed the revelation by WHO Friday, a dog in Hong Kong tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The dog belongs to a 60-year-old woman that developed COVID-19 symptoms on February 12 and later tested positive.
Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, acting head of the WHO emerging diseases unit, said the dog tested "weakly positive" for COVID-19. This test result means low levels of SARS-CoV-2 were found.
She said the puzzling reading also means veterinarians and doctors aren't sure if the dog is infected with SARS-CoV-2 or if it picked-up the virus from a contaminated surface.
"We're working with them to understand the results, to understand what further testing they are doing, and to understand how they are going to care for these animals," said van Kerkhove during a press conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
The WHO findings were seconded by Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), which said the dog doesn't have any symptoms. Swabs of the dog's nasal and oral cavities tested "weak positive," said AFCD Friday.
"At present, (AFCD) does not have evidence that pet animals can be infected with COVID-19 virus or can be a source of infection to people," said Hong Kong's government in a statement.
The dog is quarantined at a facility at a port in Hong Kong. It will be returned to its owner once it tests negative for the virus, said AFCD.
Hong Kong is currently the seventh most infected COVID-19 country in the world, with 94 cases and two deaths. Worldwide there are 84,132 cases and 2,876 deaths, as of February 29, 3.19 a.m., according to China's National Health Commission.
COVID-19 has now infected 58 countries and territories globally as of this same time. There are also 705 cases, and six deaths on the Diamond Princess still quarantined in the dock at Yokohama, Japan.
