5 Mar 2020
BVA reacts to news and says it is particularly keen not to cause any unnecessary concern that could lead to pet abandonment.
David Woodmansey
Job Title
The BVA has reacted to confirmation that a dog in Hong Kong belonging to an owner confirmed as having COVID-19 is likely to be a case of human-to-animal transmission of the disease.
In a statement, BVA president Daniella Dos Santos said: “The OIE [World Organisation for Animal Health] and Hong Kong Government have unanimously agreed that the ongoing test results of the Pomeranian dog suggest that the dog has a low-level of infection and that this is likely to be a case of human-to-animal transmission.”
Ms Dos Santos continued: “The dog has not shown any clinical signs of disease and is still under quarantine. We are very wary of speculating beyond the information that is available at the time of commenting [6:30pm, 4 March].
“However, we’re aware that during the SARS outbreak in 2003, a small number of cats and dogs tested positive for the virus. These animals did not transmit the virus to other animals of the same species or to humans.”
Ms Dos Santos added: “We are particularly keen not to cause any unnecessary concern that could lead to pet abandonment.
“We would emphasise that, at the moment, there remains no evidence that pet animals can be a source of infection of COVID-19 for humans or other animals, or that they become sick. The main source of infection remains human-to-human transmission.”
Tests on the dog are continuing.
