According to China's state news service (CNS), officials in the ,Anqi district in the northern city of Langfang have ordered "total culling of pets belonging to patients with coronavirus infection".
“The order of April 6th went into effect immediately”, - the publications said, containing videos of animals - apparently both cats and dogs - trying to escape from tied bags and packages.
Citing CDC employee Langfang, CNS news service reported that the work to "cull" these animals was completed by 5:00 pm on the same day.
It is not yet clear exactly how many animals were killed at the behest of the district authorities.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), although pets can actually become infected with SARS-CoV-2 from humans, the risk of further spread of the pathogen from themselves is low.
It is noted that pets that show symptoms of covid usually have a mild course of the disease.