Animals without a owner in Turkey will not die of hunger as long as the world is isolated in houses, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ankara government has decided, the BBC writes, to provide local authorities with food, water and sanitation for hundreds of thousands of wild cats and dogs across the country.

The Interior Minustry has issued a directive by which local councils must, during the coronavirus pandemic, to buy food for the animals without a owner and to bring food and water everywhere where cats and stray dogs are. City halls must provide food and shelter for animals.

Suleyman Soylu also decided that the state employees should take care of the disinfection of the shelters and the improvised huts. Normally, the animals without a shelter in Turkey are fed by activists and volunteers, but they are now isolated at homes because of the epidemic.

In Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey alone, there are 162,970 cats without a owner and 128,900 lonely dogs. The directive has been praised in the media and on social networks.

And on April 5, local authorities in the Bayrampasa district posted pictures on the official Twitter page of employees feeding the animals on the street.

And Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul also supports the initiative. Also in April, he posted a photo of him with a dog and a message for all animal lovers.

Can your beloved cat or dog give you coronavirus?

Experts agree, almost definitely not.

Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said that samples from the dog's nasal and oral cavities had tested "weak positive" for novel coronavirus. It was believed to be the first time that a dog anywhere in the world tested positive for the virus.

The dog - which had no symptoms - was put into quarantine and will be repeatedly tested until the result comes back negative, according to the statement. The department "strongly advises" that pets of people infected with coronavirus are quarantined for 14 days.

Despite this, the AFCD and the World Health Organization both agree there is no evidence that pets such as cats or dogs can be infected with coronavirus.

That's because while dogs can test positive for the virus, it doesn't necessarily mean they have been infected.

Is it worth quarantining pets?

According to Gray, who was working in Hong Kong during SARS, there is still value in quarantining pets from a scientific perspective, because it allows scientists to observe how an animal relates to a disease we still know relatively little about.

"Whilst it seems a bit scary, it's purely a precautionary measure, and it's certainly nothing for pet owners in general to be concerned about," said Gray.

Some pet owners in mainland China have been fitting their dogs with tiny face masks, but Gray said there is no benefit to that -- in fact, it's probably fairly distressing for the pet and could cause them to panic.

Instead, pet owners should stick to the basics: good hygiene.

Both WHO and Gray said owners should wash their hands with soap and water after touching pets.

"I am certainly not in any concern of my dog or cats, I'm far more concerned about myself catching it from a human being that has the disease," said Gray, who is a pet owner herself.