Pets outfitted with makeshift masks to protect them from coronavirus

Animal lovers have begun sharing pictures of their pets, mostly cats, on social media, most of them wearing makeshift protective gear from surgical masks with eye-holes cut out.

By AARON REICH
A cat is seen on the shoulder of her owner during the Vietnam's first cat show in Hanoi, Vietnam February 16, 2020. (photo credit: KHAM / REUTERS)
A cat is seen on the shoulder of her owner during the Vietnam's first cat show in Hanoi, Vietnam February 16, 2020.
(photo credit: KHAM / REUTERS)
With fears of the deadly coronavirus outbreak only worsening, many people in China are worried about the health of their pets, and have taken to forcing them to wear makeshift surgical masks to protect against the disease, multiple reports stated.

Animal lovers have begun sharing pictures of their pets, mostly cats, on social media, most of them wearing makeshift protective gear from surgical masks with eye-holes cut out.

Other pets have been shown wearing masks that only cover the mouth, leaving the rest of the face exposed.

It is believed by many that the coronavirus outbreak spread from animals into humans, with some pointing fingers at the live-market in Wuhan, the city in China's Hubei province where the outbreak began. Others, such as researchers at South China Agricultural University, said the coronavirus could have spread to humans from bats, or perhaps through the illegal trade of pangolins.
According to the World Health Organization, although the coronavirus outbreak has infected over 67,000 people across the world and killed over 1,000 people, there is no evidence suggesting that pets could be at risk.
However, according to Li Lanjuan, an epidemiologist and spokesman for China's National Health Commission, this may not be the case.
If pets go out and have contact with an infected person, they have the chance to get infected.

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"By then, pets need to be isolated. In addition to people, we should be careful with other mammals especially pets.”
Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in sales of masks for pets skyrocketing.
Another, possibly more serious problem facing pets in due to the coronavirus outbreak is the fact that many pets are left stranded alone in quarantined cities, with their owners unable to come to them. This has resulted in some extreme measures, such as asking people in the city to break into people's homes and apartments to feed their pets.
Regardless of whether pets can contract the coronavirus, this trend does highlight the bond between pets and their human companions.