"All Pets in Daegu Test Negative for COVID-19" ... Sample Testing by Kyungpook National University Research Team

109 Animals Investigated by Year-End During Last Year's COVID-19 Pandemic
Jointly Led by Gyeongbuk Provincial Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory and Gyeongbuk National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation

The Seoul Animal Movement Specimen Collection Team is collecting a specimen from the nose of a Cocker Spaniel dog owned by a COVID-19 confirmed patient in Gangbuk-gu on the morning of the 10th. This is the first COVID-19 test conducted on a companion animal in Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] During the first wave of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the first half of last year, an investigation into the presence of COVID-19 antibodies in 109 companion animals in Daegu city confirmed that all tested negative.

According to Gyeongbuk Province on the 23rd, the Gyeongbuk Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory signed an MOU with the Gyeongbuk National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation and conducted a survey from May to the end of last year on the presence of COVID-19 antibodies in 59 companion dogs and 50 companion cats visiting animal hospitals in Daegu and those protected at the Animal Protection Center for Stray Animals.

In this investigation conducted using the neutralizing antibody test method, not a single companion dog or cat tested positive.

Overseas studies have confirmed that when live virus is not detected in the blood of companion animals of confirmed patients, the possibility of transmission from animals to humans is very low.

However, since companion animals can be infected through close contact with confirmed patients, the Gyeongbuk Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory advises that companion animals exposed to confirmed patients and showing infection symptoms should undergo COVID-19 testing.

Kim Young-hwan, director of the Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory, stated, "We plan to continuously collaborate with Professor Lee Chang-hee’s research team at the Gyeongbuk National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation on the development of diagnostic and preventive technologies for companion animal COVID-19 antibodies, to understand the actual status of zoonotic disease transmission (human to animal) and to establish a testing system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.