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China Reportedly Orders Mass Killing Of Pets Belonging To COVID-19 Patients

(Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Dylan Housman Deputy News Editor
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One city in China ordered the mass killing of household pets Wednesday, according to state-run media.

The Anci district in Langfang city reportedly told residents Wednesday that all pets belonging to individuals infected with COVID-19 were to be executed, according to the state-run China News Service, as translated by Business Insider. The order was then reportedly repealed by 5 p.m. local time Wednesday, but it remains unclear how many pets were killed before that happened.

Authorities initially ordered the “complete culling of indoor animals” belonging to coronavirus patients, before an official with the Langfang Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the order was reversed, according to Business Insider.

It is possible for animals to become infected with COVID-19, but the risk of transmission from them to humans is low. (RELATED: ‘Carnage’ Hits Chinese Markets Amid New COVID Surge)

China has been hit hard by a recent wave of COVID-19 after largely keeping the virus at bay with draconian lockdown measures since March 2020. Chinese Communist Party officials have reportedly been reconsidering the country’s “zero-COVID” strategy, as widespread lockdowns over minor outbreaks of the virus threaten to derail the economy and further interrupt international supply chains.