Spain to kill thousands of mink with COVID-19

More than 90,000 mink have tested positive for the coronavirus at a farm in northeast Spain. The government has ordered the animals to be put to death to “avoid the risk of human transmission,” Joaquin Olana, the agriculture minister for the Aragon region, said on Thursday. Health officials had monitored the farm, which raises mink for their pelts, since seven workers tested positive for COVID-19 in May.

Has this happened before? Dutch authorities earlier this month said they had ordered the slaughter of tens of thousands of mink after more than 20 farms in the Netherlands reported infected animals. Authorities in Denmark also have confirmed cases on three mink farms. The World Health Organization said the infections could be the “first known cases of animal-to-human transmission” since the outbreak began in China.

Dig deeper: Read Julie Borg’s report in Beginnings about the debate over how easily COVID-19 spreads from person to person.