Viewpoint: SARS-CoV-2 (the cause of COVID-19 in humans) is not known to infect aquatic food animals nor contaminate their products
2020
Bondad-Reantaso, Melba G. | Tang-Nelson, Kathy | Bin, Hao | Karunasagar, Iddya | Alessandro,Lovatelli | Salman, Mo | Sunarto, Agus | Surachetpong, Win | Alday-Sanz, Victoria | Hanson, Larry | Jie, Huang | Sumption, Keith | Barange, Manuel | Mackinnon, Brett | Brun, Edgar | Fejzic, Nihad | Subasinghe, Rohana | Mohamed Shariff | Mathiesen, Árni M.
This paper was prepared in response to the need for clear communication regarding the risk of transmission of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19 in humans and the general societal concern of potential contamination of aquatic animals used as food or their products with the virus. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the family Coronaviridae and genus Betacoronavirus. Betacoronaviruses are only reported to infect mammals. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can infect aquatic food animals (e.g. finfish, crustaceans, molluscs, amphibians) and therefore these animals do not play an epidemiological role in spreading COVID-19 to humans. Aquatic food animals and their products, like any other surface, may potentially become contaminated with SARS-CoV-2, especially when handled by people who are infected with the virus. Nevertheless, with proper food handling and sanitation, the likelihood of contamination of aquatic animals or their products with SARS-CoV-2 should be negligible. The COVID-19 pandemic may indirectly affect livelihoods, food security and nutrition for populations that rely on aquatic animals as a source of food or income. However, COVID-19 outbreaks may also lead to an increase in local community consumption and/or utilisation of aquatic food animals or their products due to limited transportation and trade away from the fishing and harvesting communities or limited supplies of alternative sources of animal proteins.
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