A pet cat has tested positive for coronavirus in Hong Kong, in only the second such case in the world.
The city's Agricultural and Fisheries department said the cat was tested after its owner was confirmed as having the virus.
It is the second cat to test positive after another feline was found to have the virus in Belgium last week.
Two dogs have also tested positive, also in Hong Kong, although experts say there is no evidence that pets can spread the virus to humans.
The cat in Hong Kong has not shown any signs of the disease, and the department has urged worried owners not to abandon their pets.
According to the South China Morning Post, its owner is a 25-year-old woman who is in a serious condition after contracting the virus.
She is believed to have visited a bar in central Hong Kong before developing a fever and then testing positive on Saturday.
The case in Belgium was revealed last Friday by officials who said it was an 'isolated case' which had spread from human to animal.
'The cat had diarrhoea, kept vomiting and had breathing difficulties. The researchers found the virus in the cat's faeces,' the country's top virologist said.
The first of the two dogs infected in Hong Kong was a pomeranian, belonging to a 60-year-old woman who had tested positive for the virus.
The agriculture department said the case was 'likely to be a case of human-to-animal transmission'.
The dog later died after being released from quarantine, officials said.
The second infected dog was a German shepherd living in the Pok Fu Lam area on Hong Kong Island.
The pet was sent into to quarantine along with another mixed-breed dog from the same residence.
The mixed-breed dog did not test positive for the virus and neither dog was showing any symptoms, officials said.
Health experts say there have been no recorded cases of humans contracting the virus from their pets rather than the other way round.
'We do not have evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread Covid-19,' says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Animal rights groups from Belgium to Lebanon have been urging people not to abandon their pets over unfounded fears of catching the virus.
'Let's not go back to a dark medieval period when ignorant people hunt and kill cats for fear that they will pass on the plague,' said one group in Belgium, the National Council for Animal Protection.
'We have said it from the beginning of the crisis and we will go on to the end: there is no reason to abandon your animal.
'It is just necessary, for sick people, to respect the usual hygiene rules so as not to take any risks to your entourage and animals.'
This article has been adapted from its original source.
