MANILA — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday allayed fears that the dreaded coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can infect animals.

“We have no evidence to date of COVID-19 infecting domestic animals,” said Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, World Health Organization representative to the Philippines.

Last week, Hong Kong authorities reported that they had quarantined a pet dog after its nasal and oral samples tested “weak positive” for COVID-19.

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“I can’t comment on this particular instance,” Abeyasinghe said of the report, adding it is the only case that the WHO is aware of and they are working with the animal health sector to understand how it happened.

He explained that coronaviruses, which is a family of viruses that affects humans and animals, and that dogs can be infected with certain strains.

“Coronavirus infection in dogs result in dogs having acute diarrhea,” he said. But it doesn’t mean that it also applies to COVID-19, a new strain of coronavirus that has infected more than 89,000 people worldwide.

"Past experience with coronaviruses and our current understanding of COVID-19 do not indicate that common household pets spread the disease or make people sick," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on Twitter over the weekend.

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While experts believe that COVID-19 was originally transmitted to humans by a wild animal such as a bat, there is no information yet on its actual source.