Eight big cats have tested positive in the United States' St. Louis Zoo. The cats are being monitored closely and are kept in isolation, the zoo officials informed.

The eight cats in Saint Louis Zoo include, two African lions, two snow leopards, two jaguars, Amur tiger, and a Puma who have tested positive for coronavirus, according to local media. A few days ago, 13 Gorillas tested positive with the coronavirus infection at Atlanta zoo.

“As in humans, we would expect that full protection against this virus would not be developed until a few weeks after the second injection in a series,” news agency AP quoted Dr Sathya Chinnadurai, the zoo’s director of animal health, as saying.

According to the officials, all the cats have received two doses of an animal-specific version of the coronavirus vaccine.

Apart from them, none of the other 12,000 animals in the St. Louis Zoo have tested positive, the local newspaper reported.

In September, six big cats tested positive for the coronavirus at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

As of Thursday, at least 50 animals had received both coronavirus vaccine doses, while an additional 42 had received one dose, the officials informed.

(with agency inputs)

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