Lions in India test positive for COVID-19
A total of eight lions have tested positive for COVID-19 at a zoo in India, the first known case of this kind in the country.
India is truly going through a massive crisis when it comes to the COVID-19 fatalities, and now it has been revealed that eight Asiatic lions have contracted the virus at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad.
"Based on experience with zoo animals elsewhere in the world that have experienced SARS-COV2 positive last year, there is no factual evidence that animals can transmit the disease to humans any further," the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change revealed in an article on Reuters.
The caretakers noticed that the four female and four male lions started showing symptoms closely related to COVID-19 and after ruling out any other causes for their behaviour, they conducted a COVID-19 test which came back positive.
As a safety measure, all the staff were tested too and it was discovered that more than 25 of the staff members were infected as well.
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According to a statement released by the zoo: "The eight lions have been isolated and due care and necessary treatment has been provided. All the eight lions have responded well to the treatment and recovering. They are behaving normally and eating well. Preventive measures are already in place for all zoo staff and the zoo has been closed to visitors to avoid minimal external contact."
The zoo has been closed temporarily as a safety measure and the infected lions are being isolated in a 50-acre space.
We hope that they recover fully soon.
Image Courtesy of Pixabay