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Pets can’t spread novel coronavirus, expert says

04 March 2020 18:37 (UTC +04:00)

Cats, dogs and other pets cannot spread the novel coronavirus, Viktor Maleyev, an advisor to the scientific director of the Russian consumer watchdog’s Research Institute of Epidemiology said, APA reports citing TASS.

On February 27, Hong Kong’s authorities said that a pet had allegedly transmitted the virus to a human. Preliminary tests identified the infection in the dog of a man who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

"There are currently seven described types of coronaviruses that cause acute respiratory diseases in humans. They include the novel coronavirus. According to contemporary data, cats, dogs, hamsters and other pets cannot spread this kind of coronavirus infection," Maleyev pointed out. He added, citing the World Health Organization, that no coronavirus cases among animals had been reported yet.

However, there are other types of coronaviruses that cause diseases in animals and pose no danger to humans.