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All 8 Covid +ve Asiatic lions in Hyderabad recover
Nehru Zoological Park curator VVL Subhadra Devi confirmed to HT that all the eight lions tested negative and were back in their enclosures
Eight Asiatic lions at Nehru Zoological Park (NZP), Hyderabad, which tested positive for Sars-Cov-2 in the last week of April, have now completely recovered from the infection, zoo officials said.
NZP curator VVL Subhadra Devi confirmed to HT that all the eight lions tested negative and were back in their enclosures.
On April 24, these eight big cats were found to be suffering from mild respiratory distress. Based on the guidelines of the Central Zoo Authority, their nasal and oral discharge samples were collected and sent to the Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (LaCONES-CCMB).
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“The samples were tested using RT-PCR, and found positive for coronavirus. The CCMB analysed the genomes of coronavirus samples from these lions, and did not find those to be a variant of concern. The source of infection has not been found yet,” a CCMB spokesperson said.
The lions were isolated from other animals. “They responded well to the treatment and showed signs of recovery,” a zoo official said.
After two weeks of treatment, there were no symptoms of the virus in the zoo. But the authorities continued to keep the lions in isolation for a couple of weeks more, before testing them for the virus again.
The zoo has been closed for public since May 2, following an advisory from the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change.
