Eight Lions In Indian Safari Park Test Positive For Coronavirus - Reports

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th May, 2021) Eight Asiatic lions at an Indian safari park have tested positive for the coronavirus, the first such case in the country, media said.

There are twelve lions in the forty-acre safari area of the Nehru Zoological Park in the southern city of Hyderabad, according to the Times of India. Four males and four females have been infected.

Zookeepers first noticed symptoms of a respiratory disease in the big cats on April 24, the paper cited sources as saying. Veterinarians took swabs for PCR testing, which came back positive.

A laboratory will do genome sequencing to determine whether the virus came from humans. The paper said that over 25 zoo employees recently tested positive. The zoo was closed to the public last week.

Several African lions and Malayan tigers became infected with the virus at the Bronx Zoo in New York City last year. Some of them developed a cough but all eventually recovered.