As district administration restarts the delivery of fish to
homes, many people wonder whether it is safe to have fish and poultry meats and
whether it can 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. Coronaviruses need 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-vegetarian food is perfectly safe,”
Vegad said.
He added 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 that they can 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 etc.
participated in the discussion.