Four lions infected with Covid19 at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur, Tamil Nadu have the coronavirus belonging to the Pangolin lineage B.1.617.2 and are Delta variants as per WHO nomenclature, Zoo officials said. The ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, tested the samples of 11 lions housed at the park to test for SARS CoV-2, and found nine of them were infected.

The animals were put under active treatment for the disease, it added.

The director ICAR-NIHSAD informed that the genome sequencing of the coronavirus in the infected lions revealed that 4 sequences belong to Pangolin lineage B.1.617.2 and are Delta variants as per WHO nomenclature, reported IBNS quoting a release issued by the park 

So far, two animals, a male lion named Pathbanathan, aged 12 years and a nine-year-old lioness Neela,  have died of COVID-19, earlier this month. (SAM)