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Coronavirus in dog, burst travel bubble, nasal vaccines: the good and bad of Hong Kong’s firsts amid 2020 pandemic
- City marked some of the world’s first discoveries in virus-hit year – including infection in dog, reinfection in patient
- Local scientists also said in January they had developed nasal vaccine against Covid-19, but needed time to test it
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The coronavirus was not first reported in Hong Kong, but the city has made some of the world’s earliest Covid-19 discoveries – including infection in a dog, reinfection in a recovered patient, and a quarantine-free travel bubble with Singapore that was put on hold at the last minute as Hong Kong cases surged. The city’s scientists were also the first in the world to develop a nasal vaccine. Approved for clinical trials in September, it was the first nasal spray Covid-19 vaccine to be tested in humans.
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1. Infection in a dog
A 17-year-old Pomeranian of a Covid-19 patient was the first dog reported to be infected with the coronavirus, Hong Kong authorities confirmed in March. Experts called it a “low-level infection” that was perhaps the first reported case of human-to-animal transmission of the disease.
2. Reinfected patient
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