A pet dog of a patient infected with the COVID-19 in Hong Kong tested weak positive for the virus, the Hong Kong authorities said, adding that further tests are needed to confirm an infection.
While the dog does not have any relevant symptoms, its nasal and oral cavity samples were tested weak positive to the virus, a spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said on Friday.
The spokesman said the AFCD will collect further samples of the dog to confirm if it has really been infected or this is a result of environmental contamination of the dog's mouth and nose.
There has been no evidence that pets can be infected with the virus or can be a source of infection to people, he added.
After its owner was infected with the virus, the AFCD picked up the dog from a residential flat at Tai Hang on Wednesday evening and then sent it to the animal keeping facility at the Hong Kong Port of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
The dog is still under quarantine at the animal keeping facility where there are no other animals.
The AFCD advised that mammalian pets of infected patients be delivered to its designated animal keeping facilities for quarantine and veterinary surveillance for 14 days, with their samples to be collected for testing of the virus.
