HSI/India issues statement regarding a new study claims to have found a new coronavirus that could potentially be transmissible to humans.

Humane Society International/India issues statement regarding a new study that claims to have found a new coronavirus that could potentially be transmissible to humans.

It states, A new study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases claims to have identified a new variant of canine coronavirus. But as is commonly known, many different species carry coronaviruses, and canine coronavirus is not in itself a new phenomenon. In fact, many dogs are routinely vaccinated against canine coronavirus.

The study is a result of research performed from samples of nasopharyngeal swabs conducted in patients hospitalized with pneumonia in Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2017 and 2018, years before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.

The canine coronavirus found in the Malaysia study is what is known as an alphacoronavirus, the type that is one of the many viruses that cause the common cold. By contrast, COVID-19, SARS and MERS are all beta coronaviruses that are known to be transmitted from human-to-human thereby posing the greatest risk to a spread of pandemic proportions.

It further states, Of course, as with all novel viruses, we are still uncertain of animal-to-human transmission, and as the research paper itself acknowledges, this is an extremely early study and requires more research before conclusions can be drawn. It is much too early to postulate about whether this virus causes disease – not all viruses do – or indeed if it can even be passed from person-to-person.

As more research is required, and there is no certainty of transmission to humans, we remind the public that this paper discusses a different type of coronavirus and not the current COVID-19 that can infect you and your family through human-to-human contact.

Dogs continue to play a vital role in our lives as companions during these difficult times in isolation. It is our responsibility to ensure that any dogs and cats under our care receive proper veterinary care, are up-to-date with vaccines and all basic veterinary services and are prevented from roaming the streets unsupervised, further states the statement.

Regarding HSI/India’s animal birth control work in Vadodara, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. They have been conducted under COVID-19 health and safety restrictions. All the dogs are vaccinated and operated by a veterinarian and allowed to recover for a total of 4 days before they are released back on the street to the locations they were picked up from.