A dog in Hong Kong is being quarantined after testing positive for ‘low levels’ of the COVID-19 virus.
The World Health Organization announced on Friday that a Pomeranian belonging to a 60-year-old woman who developed symptoms of the coronavirus last week also caught the illness and was being isolated by Chinese officials.
Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO’s emergencies program, said the dog tested “weak positive” for the virus. WHO officials are working closely with Hong Kong to devise strategies for animal containment.
“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,” Van Kerkhove said.
Health officials in Hong Kong say the dog, which is under quarantine at a Hong Kong port, does not possess any symptoms of the illness but that swabs of its nose and oral cavities revealed a “weak positive” test.
“People should not panic. Pets are very unlikely to be contributing to the spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Vanessa Barrs, a professor working with animals and disease at the City University of Hong Kong.
On Friday, the Hong Kong government warned citizens that their pets must be quarantined. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned citizens infected by the new strain of coronavirus to restrict contact with animals, sparking concern that the virus could jump between humans and animals.
