Coronavirus: pet dog belonging to Covid-19 patient infected, Hong Kong health authorities confirm

a woman holding a dog: The pet dog will remain under quarantine for further testing. Photo: Facebook

Pomeranian has low-level infection and experts unanimously conclude human-to-animal transmission
But experts also cite previous experience with Sars suggesting cats and dogs will not fall sick or transmit virus to people

Hong Kong health authorities confirmed on Wednesday that a pet dog belonging to a Covid-19 patient had contracted the coronavirus, with experts calling it the first reported case of human-to-animal transmission.

The Pomeranian, which repeatedly tested “weak positive” since last Friday – suggesting it was surface contamination, with the dog picking up traces of the virus in its nose and mouth rather than being actually infected – will now remain under quarantine with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for further testing.

“It is positive to tests and has been infected, so it is now quarantined in a centre by the department,” health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee said during a regular press briefing.

“Further tests will be conducted and it will not be released until the tests return negative results.”

The department said experts from the University of Hong Kong, City University and the World Organisation for Animal Health had been consulted, and all “unanimously agreed that these results suggest that the dog has a low level of infection and it is likely to be a case of human-to-animal transmission”.

A spokesman stressed there was still no evidence that pet animals could be a source of infection of Covid-19 or that they could fall sick. He added that apart from maintaining good hygiene practices, pet owners need not be overly concerned and under no circumstances should they abandon their pets.

“These test results suggest that the dog has a low-level of infection, which was also found in several pets in the Sars outbreak in 2003,” animal health expert Vanessa Barrs from City University said.

“Previous experience with Sars suggests that cats and dogs will not become sick or transmit the virus to humans. At that time, a small number of pets tested positive but none became sick. Importantly, there was no evidence of viral transmission from pet dogs or cats to humans.”

Professor Barrs said the weak-positive test result for the Pomeranian indicated it had been exposed to the virus, which was not surprising because the owner was infected.

All available evidence showed that cases of Covid-19 were the result of human-to-human transmission, she said.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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$Slide 158 of 178: NEW YORK CITY, USA - JANUARY 31, 2020: Zhang Jun (L), China's Permanent Representative to the UN, has stated in his press briefing more than 130 patients have been cured of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus. Maria Khrenova/TASS (Photo by Maria Khrenova\TASS via Getty Images)$
$Slide 168 of 178: KRASNOYARSK, RUSSIA - JANUARY 23, 2020: A Rospotrebnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being) official uses a thermal imaging device to conduct a temperature check of passengers arriving at Krasnoyarsk International Airport on a plane from Cam Rahn, Vietnam, in connection with an outbreak of coronavirus. Andrei Samsonov/TASS (Photo by Andrei Samsonov\TASS via Getty Images)$

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An outbreak of a new SARS-like coronavirus (COVID-19), which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has claimed 3,048 lives and infected more than 88,400 people around the world. With 2,912 deaths, China is the worst affected, with fatalities reported in other countries such as the U.S., Australia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, France, Taiwan, Iran, Italy and South Korea, which also has the highest cases of confirmed infections outside China. The other nations with confirmed cases are Andorra, Indonesia, Armenia, Mexico, Nigeria, New Zealand, Algeria, Switzerland, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Malaysia, Brazil, Greece, Norway, Pakistan, Nepal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, UAE, U.K. and Vietnam.

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Brazilian citizens from Wuhan arrive at the Air Force base of Anapolis, in Brazil on Feb. 9.

A passenger wearing a mask walks outside the Shanghai railway station in China on Feb. 8.

Workers produce protective clothing at a factory in Wuxi, China, on Feb. 8. The factory, which previously produced suits and sportswear, switched to production of protective clothing as demand increased due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Family members of passengers from the cruise ship World Dream docked at Kai Tak cruise terminal, wave on shore in Hong Kong on Feb. 8. The cruise ship with approximately 1,800 passengers remained quarantined in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on Feb. 8. Several passengers from mainland China on a previous World Dream cruise were found to have the new coronavirus on returning home.

A Hindu devotee wears a mask as she carries a milk pot on her head at a shrine in Batu Caves during the Thaipusam festival in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 8.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks to the media during a press conference on the coronavirus situation in Hong Kong on Feb. 8. Lam said that the government has bought 48 million masks and received 17 million more from China to counter the shortage of masks in Hong Kong.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has his temperature checked during a visit to a clinic in Gyeonggi, South Korea, on Feb. 8.

People look on from the quarantined cruise liner Diamond Princess, in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Feb. 7. About 64 passengers from the ship have tested positive for the virus. Another ship, the World Dream, has been docked and quarantined at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong. It has 3,600 passengers and crew on board.

Flight attendants wearing protective clothing and masks serve snacks to Canadians, who had been evacuated from China due to the outbreak of novel Coronavirus on an American charter plane, on another aircraft taking them to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton from the Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, Canada, on Feb. 7.

Members of U.S. President Donald Trump's Coronavirus task force – (L-R) Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun – attend a news conference about the virus at the Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington, D.C, U.S., on Feb. 7.

People spray chemical to sterilize vehicles against the virus in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, on Feb. 7.

A woman hangs a Japanese flag that reads "shortage of medicine" onboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which is anchored at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama on Feb. 7.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen speaks about the coronavirus situation during a news conference at the Centers for Disease Control in Taipei, Taiwan, on Feb. 7.

Spectators wear masks while attending the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul on Feb. 6.

Members of an emergency team participate in a drill to prepare for the potential arrival of passengers infected with the coronavirus at the Viru Viru International Airport, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, on Feb. 6.

Airport security staff checks passengers using a thermal sensor screen at the Hong Kong International Airport on Feb. 6.

A tourist receives a free protective face mask from Buddhist volunteers in Hanoi on Feb. 6.

A group of medical personnel meet evacuees, carried by a Russian military plane at an airport outside Tyumen, Russia, on Feb. 5. Russia evacuated 144 people, Russians and nationals of Belarus, Ukraine and Armenia, from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, on the day. All evacuees will be quarantined for two weeks in a sanatorium in the Tyumen region in western Siberia, government officials said.

Workers in protective gear are seen on Japan Coast Guard boats in Yokohama, on Feb. 5, bringing patients from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Beds are set up at an exhibition center, which was converted into a hospital, in Wuhan on Feb. 4.

This handout photo released by Malaysia's Ministry of Health shows citizens being directed onto a bus by health officials as they arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia in Feb. 4.

People wear face masks as they go about their daily lives in Singapore on Feb. 4.

Medical workers hold a strike outside the office of Hospital Authority in Hong Kong, as they demand the closure of borders with China, on Feb. 4.

Health services staff members wearing protective gear interact with passengers at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Feb. 2.

Members of the Association for Sri Lanka and China Social and Cultural Cooperation (ASLCSCC) hold candles during a vigil to pray for people who are suffering from coronavirus across the world, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 1.

German Minister for Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (R) and German Minister for Health Jens Spahn give a joint statement in Bonn, Germany, on Feb. 1, on the evacuation of more than 100 German citizens from Wuhan following the coronavirus outbreak.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca speaks to the press after a Turkish cargo plane carrying 42 passengers from Wuhan landed at Etimesgut Military Airport in Ankara, Turkey, on Feb. 1.

Medical staff of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health prepares to screen passengers at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport of Ethiopia, on Jan. 31.

Officials make preparations in Turkish Air Forces' A400M cargo plane at Etimesgut Military Airbase in Ankara, which is to depart to China to fly Turkish citizens out of Wuhan, on Jan. 31.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, and Didier Houssin, chair of the emergency committee, at the opening of the second meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee for Pneumonia due to the Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV in Geneva on Jan. 30.

China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun stated in his press briefing that over 130 patients have been cured of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus in New York City on Jan. 31.

Medical staff with protective clothing are seen inside a ward specialized in treating people who may have been infected with the virus, at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General hospital in Chennai, India, on Jan. 29.

An official of Pakistan-based Chinese company (R) uses a thermo gun to check the temperature of the company's drivers in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Jan. 30, after instructions from authorities to take preventive measures against the virus.

Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (C) speaks to journalists during a visit to Suvarnabhumi Airport to inspect measures in place to monitor passengers as they arrive in Bangkok on Jan. 29.

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Health Minister Mikhail Murashko during a meeting on preventing the spread of the virus in Moscow on Jan. 29.

Children are seen wearing facial masks as a precaution after Nepal confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country, at Matribhumi School in Madhyapur Thimi, Nepal, on Jan. 29.

Passengers from China are checked by Saudi Health Ministry employees upon their arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 29.

Images captured by a thermographic imaging device to check the temperatures of arriving passengers at a quarantine station are seen on a monitor at the Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on Jan. 26.

A banner placed by Indian health workers is seen during a coronavirus information camp for travelers at an India-Nepal border crossing, near Siliguri, India, on Jan. 26.

(L-R) Sabine Hagenauer of the infection department at the 4th medical department of Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital, Michael Binder, medical director of the Vienna Hospital Association, and Judith Aberle of the department of virology, Medical University Vienna, address a press conference at Kaiser-Franz-Josef hospital in Vienna, Austria, on Jan. 26. A Chinese flight attendant was quarantined in the hospital with symptoms of flu, in what authorities suspected as the first coronavirus case in the country.

A Rospotrebnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being) official uses a thermal imaging device to conduct a temperature check of passengers arriving at Krasnoyarsk International Airport on a plane from Cam Rahn, Vietnam, in Russia on Jan. 23.

Sanitation workers spray a disinfectant at Suseo Station in Seoul, on Jan. 24.

A passenger holds up an Australian Government document pertaining to the coronavirus as passengers arrive at Sydney International Airport in Australia on Jan. 23.

Passengers arriving from China are screened at Kolkata International Airport, India, on Jan. 22. Screening centers have been set up in the Indian cities of Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin apart from three airports at Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata to screen for the coronavirus.

Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, takes part in a news conference after a meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee to discuss about the outbreak of Pneumonia in China and other countries due to the 2019-nCoV, in Geneva, on Jan. 22.

Deputy Australian Prime Minister Michael McCormack (L) and Prime Minister Scott Morrison (C) are updated by Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy on the steps being taken to control the virus, at the National Incident Room of the Department of Health in Canberra, Australia, on Jan. 22.

Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travelers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the coronavirus at Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan Jan. 21.

Health officials watch travelers on a thermographic monitor at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Jan. 21.

Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital where patients infected with the coronavirus are being treated, in Wuhan on Jan. 20.

A stock investor checks prices at a brokerage house in Fuyang, China, on Jan. 21. China's market went down by 1.4 percent after the news of the coronavirus.

Dozens of diggers work to build a new hospital in Wuhan, on Jan. 25. Due to the large number of infected people, the government decided to establish a temporary 1,000-bed hospital.

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