Three white-tailed deer in the Eastern Townships have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, Ottawa announced on Wednesday.
These are the first cases detected in a wild species in Canada.
“Samples were taken from these deer between November 6 and 8, 2021, in the Estrie region,” the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change said in a statement.
“The deer showed no clinical signs of the disease and were all apparently in good health,” said the ministry, which said it had warned the World Organization for Animal Health on Wednesday.
Recent reports in the United States show that SARS-CoV-2 has been transmitted to wild white-tailed deer by humans, but it is not known if this has happened in the Eastern Townships.
“No case of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by deer to humans has been detected to date,” said the ministry.