Indore
As district administration restarts the home delivery of fish, many people wonder whether is it safe to have fish and poultry meats or will it increase the likelihood of COVID-19 infection. Solving their queries, veterinarians from all over the country discussed difference in pathogenesis of human and animal corona viruses in three-day webinar.
The webinar, concluding on Thursday, was organised by Veterinary and Animal Husbandry College, Mhow and Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University, Jabalpur. The organising committee of veterinary doctors from Indore coordinated the webinar.
“SARS- CoV-2 virus is usually transmitted through direct contact with an infected person’s body fluids like from coughing or sneezing or indirectly through contact with surfaces. Coronavirus needs a host and cannot grow in food,” veterinarian Dr Jawaharlal Vegad, scientist at Emeritus Department of Animal Pathology, said.
He cited reports of World Organization for Animal Health, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and Indian Council for Agricultural Research have proved that there is no known effect of COVID-19 on poultry, fish or meat.
“As far as food is concerned, there is currently no evidence that food can be a route of transmission of the virus or a determinant of any form of infection. So eating non-veg food is perfectly safe,” Vegad said, adding that as a precautionary measure one can avoid going to slaughterhouses until the infection is controlled.
Dr Nitin Kurkure, director of research at Maharashtra Animal and Fishery University, said, “Current advice from the World Health Organisation is that there’s no evidence that pets or any stray animal can be a source of infection or become sick from coronavirus,” he said.
Over 750 students, teachers, research and PhD scholars, veterinarians of many states including Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and many others participated in the discussion.
