4 Asiatic lions at Night Safari test positive for Covid-19 after exposure to infected staff, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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4 Asiatic lions at Night Safari test positive for Covid-19 after exposure to infected staff

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SINGAPORE - Four lions at the Night Safari have tested positive for Covid-19, said the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) on Tuesday (Nov 9).

It said the four Asiatic lions at the Night Safari and and one African lion at the Singapore Zoo exhibited mild signs of sickness including coughing, sneezing and lethargy on Saturday (Nov 6) and Monday (Nov 8) respectively.

This was upon exposure to staff from Mandai Wildlife Group who tested positive for Covid-19. The AVS, which comes under the National Parks Board, tested samples for all four of the Asiatic lions.

The samples tested positive for the Sars-CoV-2 virus via polymerase chain reaction.

Testing is ongoing for the African lion that had shown signs of sickness.

AVS has issued an order under the Animals and Birds Act to Mandai Wildlife Group to isolate all nine Asiatic lions and five African lions in their respective dens.

This includes the four Asiatic lions and one African lion that have displayed symptoms.

AVS said it is working with Mandai Wildlife Group to closely monitor the health of the lions and will be testing samples from the remaining lions.

 
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