Asiatic lions of Hyderabad zoo recover from COVID-19, test negative after weeks

At least eight Asiatic lions at Hyderabad's Nehru Zoological Park, who had tested positive for COVID-19 a few weeks ago have now recovered, informed the zoo officials. On May 4, the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology had said that these lions tested positive. 

Earlier this month, all the eight Asiatic lions had shown mild symptoms of the disease that has rocked the world since it originated in China in December 2019. As per a statement by CSIR-CCMB, zoo authorities had collected the lions' nasal and throat samples which later turned out to be positive. 

After testing positive, the lions were isolated from other animals and kept under proper care, and were given necessary treatment. The zoo officials said that they had responded well to the treatment and showed signs of recovery. 

According to March 2021 analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), coronavirus can spread from people to animals in some situations such as close contact of the animal with an infected person. CDC also noted that this was the same path that SARS-CoV-2 followed as it is likely to be originated in bats as the early infections were linked to a live animal market in China’s Wuhan, though this particular origin theory is and has always been in doubt. The coronavirus, which has now emerged into several other more infectious variants, spreads easily from person to person. But, CDC denied reports of animals playing an active role in spreading it. 

COVID In Telangana 

Telangana on Thursday reported 3,614 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 5.67 lakh, while the toll stood at 3207 with 18 more casualties, a government bulletin said. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 504, followed by Nalgonda (229) and Khammam (228), the bulletin said. The state has 38,267 active cases and over 90,000 samples were tested. The total number of cumulative cases in the state stood at5,67,517 while with3,961being cured, the total recoveries were at 5,26,043. 

Cumulatively, over 1.48 crore samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was over 3.98 lakh, the bulletin said. The case fatality and recovery rates in the state were 0.56 percent and 92.69 percent, respectively.