The virus affects both stray and domestic cats, causing feline infectious peritonitis.
Feline covid, as the disease is being popularly called, does not affect humans, but it is fatal for cats if the disease is not treated in time.
“Local vets have been reporting an alarming increase in FIP cases, which started in the capital city of Nicosia in January and spread across the island in three to four months,” said Dr. Demetris Epaminondas, vice president of the Pan Cypriot Veterinary Association to The Telegraph.
Dinos Agiomamitis, director of Cats PAWS Cyprus and vice president of Cyprus Voice for Animals claims that 300,000 cats have died since January, according to the DailyMail.
Cyprus is a country known for having one of the oldest cat domestication records in the world. In fact, in 2004, French archaeologists identified the first historical record of cat domestication there, in a 9,500-year-old tomb.