Blood test negative for first dog found with coronavirus, more checks pending
- Hong Kong official says low-level infection for Pomeranian revealed earlier still stands despite latest test revealing lack of antibodies in its system
- More results coming as experts say negative blood sample could mean dog is not infected or only to a mild level
The world’s first dog found with the coronavirus has tested negative in a blood test used to confirm Covid-19 cases.
But Dr Chui Tak-yi, undersecretary for food and health, maintained the Pomeranian belonging to Hong Kong’s 85th patient had a low-level infection.
Chui said the dog continued to test “weakly positive” for the virus in oral and nasal swab samples.
He added a serology test, which looks for antibodies in the blood, from March 3 had come back negative, meaning no antibodies specific to the coronavirus were found in the pet’s system.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s animal welfare authority revealed on Thursday night that the genetic make-up of the virus found in the dog and its human contacts were very similar.
“The [gene] sequence results indicate that the virus likely spread from the infected persons and subsequently infected the dog,” the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said in a statement.
