On Monday, Jiang Rongmeng, a member of the National Health Commission expert group, once again stressed there was no evidence of the spread of the novel coronavirus between humans and pets.

The word "again" is being used because before Jiang, the World Health Organization, science website guokr.com and other experts had already stressed the same thing.

And yet there have been reports of people discarding their pets. Worse, in some cases people have made their neighbors discard theirs for fear of contracting the novel coronavirus.

People's concern for health is understandable but discarding pets is a case of panic fueled by ignorance.

As stated by Jiang at the news briefing, different viruses target different species and there is no evidence of the novel coronavirus infecting pets, or of them carrying the virus and spreading it to humans.

Research shows a high possibility the novel coronavirus first emerged in bats, and it is reasonable to conclude that those who eat wild animals like bats might have helped spread it to other people.

This is because in the process of hunting, slaughtering and cooking the animal the people might have come in contact with the infected bat's bodily fluids.

It is therefore unfair, unjust and unreasonable to let cats and dogs pay the price for wrongs committed by a few bush meat lovers.

Ironically, while the pets are not a threat, those who discard them could be inviting health problems. Abandoned cats and dogs are likely to wander in search of food in the green belts of cities where they are likely to come in contact with wild animals.

Such contact could help the exchange of bacteria and viruses between the animals. Later, when these abandoned pets return to residential areas again in search of food from garbage bins they could be carrying some viruses or bacteria with them.

In other words, abandoned pets could expose humans to viruses and bacteria other than the novel coronavirus.

Of course, that does not mean keeping pets is 100 percent safe. Like humans, the pets, too, need to stay indoors during this phase and stay clean. That means their masters should invest more efforts on their pets.

 - Zhang Zhouxiang, China Daily