Thailand's Caturday Cafe reopens for customers with precautions amid COVID-19 scare

As life is returning to normalcy in some parts of the world amid coronavirus outbreak, Bangkok’s famous Caturday Cafe has reopened with its furry ‘employees’. According to reports, a few dozen of friendly cats were lounging in the cafe as its human customers snuggled with them. Making up for a much-needed outing for the residents in Thailand’s capital as the drastic spread of COVID-19 disease continues to scare people. Bangkok-based people were confined to their homes during the time the government had imposed semi-lockdown and shut down non-essential businesses. 

According to an international news agency, a regular customer of the Caturday Cafe said that having nowhere to go amid a pandemic was making people ‘stressed out’. However, she added, now that the cafe has reopened people feel ‘more at ease and relaxed’. Meanwhile, as of May 9, Thailand has publicly reported 3,004 cases of coronavirus with 56 fatalities. Before entering the recently reopened cafes in the country, the customers have to get their temperatures checked and are required to wash their hands and wear a mask at all times. 

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‘Cats are susceptible to coronavirus’

Meanwhile, in an unprecedented revelation, Worl Health Organisation scientists Dr Peter Ben Embarek has said in the press briefing on May 8 that cats are likely to be impacted by the coronavirus and that the furry animals can even transmit the disease among them. He also briefed that even though pigs and poultry are not affected by novel virus, dogs are susceptible to a limited extent. 

"So far research has shown that felines such as cats and tigers are susceptible to the virus. Study has also shown that cats can also transmit the disease to other cats. So it is this group of animals that is interesting to look at. Dogs to some extent but not as efficiently, and other domestic species like pigs and poultry, chicken, and turkey does not seem to be susceptible to the disease which is good news because we are producing these animals in a very large scale," he said.

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(Image Source: Unsplash/Representative)