8 Asiatic lions housed in Hyderabad zoo have tested positive for SARS-COV2 virus. The zoo has been closed for the staffers & visitors, informed offical of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.
They've been isolated, responding well to the treatment, behaving & eating normally. Preventive measures are in place for the staffers & zoo has been closed to visitors, said the ministry.
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, said the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Rakesh Mishra,advisor of the premier research institute said the virus which is present in the lions at the Nehru Zoological Park here is not any new variant. Mishra further said these animals must have got infected through zoo-keeping staff.
In view of rapid spread of the coronavirus in the country, the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change, recently issued an advisory to close all zoological parks, national parks, tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries for visitors till further orders to control the spread of the pandemic.