Covid kills 9-year-old lion in Tamil Nadu zoo, 9 others test positive

CHENNAI: A nine-year-old lioness died of suspected Coronavirus infection on Thursday evening at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur near Chennai. Nine other lions at the zoo have tested positive for SARS CoV-2.
Samples collected from the animals were sent to National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal, which confirmed the infection on Thursday. According to protocol, any suspected death due to the virus in zoos is reconfirmed by Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. Samples have been sent to these institutes for confirmation.
According to zoo authorities, the CCMB will carry out genome sequencing of the virus strain to understand zoonotic transmission to prevent infection spread.