Pet dogs and cats can be tested for COVID-19 and results can be known within 24 hours, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday, but added that such testing is not necessary unless required by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
The Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department on Friday announced that a pet dog tested weak positive for COVID-19, raising concerns about the possibility of infections of dogs and cats.
The council on Sunday said that there have been no reports of house pets or other domesticated animals having been infected with COVID-19, or any evidence that the virus could spread from pets to humans.
Photo: CNA
Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine director-general Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) yesterday reiterated the position after a meeting with quarantine officials, veterinarians and other experts.
Despite the low risk, the council has set up a procedure for testing tissue samples from pets, with the process similar to that for humans, said Lee Fan (李璠), a researcher at the council’s Animal Health Research Institute.
Dogs and cats might be tested for the virus when the CECC confirms that their owners have been infected and when the animals also show symptoms, Lee said, adding that the institute would not conduct such tests unless required to by the CECC.
There is also no scientific literature showing that pet dogs or cats contracting SARS “under natural circumstances” over the past 17 years, National Taiwan University veterinary medicine professor Liu Chen-hsuan (劉振軒) said.
Dogs and cats exhibit symptoms similar to those of humans when they catch a cold, but it is not known whether that is also the case in COVID-19, given that animals have different receptors, he said.
The pets of people under home quarantine should be separated from their owners, just like their relatives, the council said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching