WHO reiterates: “Very little risk” pets can infect owners with COVID

The World Health Organization again said there’s ‘very little risk’ that pets can infect their owners with COVID-19.

Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist said “There’s very little risk from domestic animals because there was some concerns about domestic animals becoming a source of infection.”

“Some animals like the felines, the cats and the ferrets, and even tigers can get infections, so human to animal, but very little evidence of the reverse.”

Vets across the globe have been trying to calm fears and again deliver clear advice to pet owners that animal to human transmission is extremely rare:

At the Alfort National Veterinary school outside Paris, Director Renaud Tissier has also confirmed: “We have a message which is to repeat that there is no scientific evidence that in real life, in the way the disease is transmitted now, pets play a role so they are not a danger, it’s important to say that it is out of the question to abandon a pet because of a potential danger.”