WEDNESDAY, May 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- With sporadic reports of tigers and housecats picking up the new coronavirus from nearby humans, a new trial gives more details on whether cats can pass the virus to each other.

The answer: Yes, and quite easily, according to the new trial involving six felines.

But there was good news, too: Even though cats can transmit the new SARS-CoV-2 virus to other felines, none of the kitties infected in the new study appeared to get sick.

Still, the team of American and Japanese researchers said that domestic cats "may be a silent intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2, because infected cats may not show any appreciable symptoms that might be recognized by their owners."

So far, however, there's been no evidence that cats can pass the virus to humans -- only evidence that humans might pass the virus to a pet cat.

Read the full HealthDay story.