Coronavirus: Pet Cat in Belgium gets infected in new human-to-animal transmission case

As world fights new Coronavirus that causes sickness called COVID-19, has found a new case of human-to-animal transmission. On March 27, news media reports confirmed a cat contracting Coronavirus from her infected-owner.

A week after pet-owner from Belgium was infected with COVID-19, family cat began showing similar symptoms of virus-- respiratory issues and diarrhea.  This comes even as experts stated that Coronavirus spres from human-to-human and re was research on human-to-animal transmission. 

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Dogs test positive 

In a similar case, two dogs in Hong Kong h tested positive for vel virus after a screening campaign was conducted on 17 dogs and eight cats living in contact with Coronavirus-infected patients. However, two dogs showed symptoms of Coronavirus. In early March, first dog who was detected of Coronavirus was put under quarantine after being found as "weakly positive." 

An authority in Belgium government called this an "isolated case" which may occur after a close-contact between infected humans with animals. However, ruled out that animals could be vectors of pandemic. On March 13, World Health Organisation (WHO) issuing an visory h stated that re is evidence to support that pet animals can spre Coronavirus or be infected. However, it ded, "It is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets." 

Meanwhile, in Belgium 1,049 new cases were reported on Friday and 289 deaths. According to latest statistics until Saturday morning, re are 594,344 confirmed global cases of Coronavirus, out of which 132,622 people have recovered and 27,251 have died. 

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