With a tigress in a US zoo found Coronavirus positive, India has decided to conduct testing on wildlife and pets as preventive steps to fight the deadly virus.
The move has also come a day after the World Health Organisation officials said they’re investigating several cases where pets, and even a tiger, appear to have been infected with the coronavirus by their human caretakers.
Sources said that the Union Environment Ministry in consultation with the Union Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has asked the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to conduct testing on them.
The sources said that three institutes of the ICAR have been selected for conducting Covid testing on wildlife samples.
These institutes are the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Izatnagar, the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal and National Research Centre on Equines in Hisar.
After the tigress in Bronx Zoo in New York tested positive for Covid-19 last week, the Government has put on high alert the zoos and tiger reserves across the country.
Last month, a pet cat was also infected with the novel coronavirus in Belgium. The animals are believed to have contracted the virus from the people they live with.
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, cats and ferrets are the most susceptible species for Covid-19.
However, there is no study as such which can say that pets can transmit the virus to humans.
“We’re aware of two dogs that have been infected in Hong Kong, a cat in Belgium and we’ve heard recently the reports of a tiger at the Bronx Zoo,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on the outbreak, said during a press conference on Wednesday. “There are several groups that are conducting investigations in animals to really understand how pets are infected,” she said.
One study conducted on cats in Wuhan found that the pets could be infected with the coronavirus, Kerkhove said. She added that world officials don’t believe that the animals are playing a role in transmission to humans, although humans can infect animals.
Kerkhove said the WHO is working closely with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health to look more in-depth at the coronavirus in animals.
It’s “really important we remain respectful and kind” to the animals that are likely to be co-infected with humans, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said on Wednesday.
In the meantime, washing your hands before and after interacting with a pet—same as you would with a fellow human—is the safest thing to do, say the experts.