UK considered exterminating all pet cats over fears they spread Covid

The UK considered “exterminating” all pet cats amid fears they could be spreading Covid, a former health minister has said.

The UK considered “exterminating” all pet cats amid fears they could be spreading Covid, a former health minister has said.

Lord Bethell said the concern about pets underlined how little was known about the disease at the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, The Sun reported.

The UK considered killing all pet cats

He told Channel 4 News: “What we shouldn’t forget is how little we understood about this disease.

“There was a moment we were very unclear about whether domestic pets could transmit the disease.

“In fact, there was an idea at one moment that we might have to ask the public to exterminate all the cats in Britain.

“Can you imagine what would have happened if we had wanted to do that?

“And yet, for a moment there was a bit of evidence around that so that had to be investigated and closed down.”

Lord Bethell was former UK health secretary Matt Hancock’s deputy in the Department of Health and Social Care from 2020 to 2021.

This story was originally published by The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as UK considered exterminating all pet cats over fears they spread Covid