A Chinese woman holds her dog on a Beijing street. Photo / Getty Images
A Chinese woman holds her dog on a Beijing street. Photo / Getty Images
Experts have agreed there is not a chance your beloved pets could give you the coronavirus.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and the World Health Organisation have stated that there is no evidence pets, such as cats and dogs, can be infected or pass on Covid-19.
According tothese organisations, while a pet can be tested positive for the virus it doesn't necessarily mean that they have been infected.
The virus can live on surfaces and objects but research is still not confirmed for how long exactly it would linger for.
AFCD said that this is similar to pets where Covid-19 can be present on the surface of a pet even if they haven't contracted the virus itself.
Dogs wearing masks are seen in Shanghai last week. Photo / Getty Images
"Present evidence suggests that dogs are no more of a risk of spreading (coronavirus) than inanimate objects such as door handles," Sheila McClelland, the founder of Hong Kong-based Lifelong Animal Protection Charity, wrote in a letter to the Hong Kong authorities, which was published by CNN.
Jane Gray, Hong Kong SPCA's chief veterinary surgeon, who was working in Hong Kong during the Sars epidemic, said that dogs and cats do get coronavirus but they are not the same as the virus in this current outbreak.
"Those strains are a completely different type, and don't cause respiratory problems," Gray said in a statement.
The chief veterinary surgeon agrees that dogs whose owners have contracted the virus could benefit from a 14 day quarantine period as well as sticking to the basics of good hygiene.
Some pet owners in China have reportedly been fitting their dogs with face masks but Gray believes that there is no benefit in this.
The pet dog, causing this fear, belonged to a coronavirus patient in Hong Kong which tested "weak positive" last week.
Hong Kong SPCA's chief veterinary surgeon Jane Gray, who was working in Hong Kong during the Sars epdemic, says the masks for dogs are unnecessary. Photo / Getty Images
The dog was put into quarantine and was tested consistently until the results came back negative, a statement revealed. Following this diagnosis, the AFCD has recommended that the pets of people infected with the virus should be quarantined for 14 days.
The AFCD is testing to see whether the dog has been infected with the virus, or if it has just been contaminated with the virus.
After the announcement of the positive tested dog last week, the Lifelong Animal Protection Charity wrote in a statement that there is a bigger issue than the potential spread of coronavirus to pets and that is the spread of fear.
"In a state of panic, people could abandon or kill their pets," McClelland, the founder of the Charity, wrote to the government.
"Other people could stigmatise people who have dogs. Dog owners could face unreasonable problems when simply walking their pets outdoors, or neighbours could create trouble for no reason."
