Report: Two cats become first US pets to contract COVID-19

KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Two cats in New York have become the first pets in the US to test contract Covid-19, AFP reported officials saying today.

The US Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint statement that the “cats live in separate areas of New York state”.

The statement also revealed that the owner of one of the cats had earlier tested positive for COVID-19 while the other animal lives in a home where no one was “confirmed to be ill with Covid-19”.

“The virus may have been transmitted to this cat by mildly ill or asymptomatic household members or through contact with an infected person outside its home,” said the officials.

“Both had mild respiratory illness and are expected to make a full recovery,” they added.

The departments, however, also “stressed” that public health officials are still studying Covid-19’s impact on animals and that “there is no evidence that pets play a role in spreading the virus in the United States”, AFP reported.

But they also “recommend that cats and dogs socially isolate while they learn more about how the virus infects pets”.

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