Scientists study coronavirus outbreaks among minks in Europe

摘要

Coronavirus outbreaks at mink farms in Spain and the Netherlands have scientists digging into how the animals got infected and whether they can spread it to people. In the meantime, authorities have killed more than 1 million minks at breeding farms in both countries as a precaution. The virus that first infected people in China late last year came from an animal source, probably bats, and later spread from person to person, as other coronaviruses had done in the past. Some animals, including cats, tigers and dogs, have picked up the new coronavirus from people, but there hasn't been a documented case of animals spreading it back to humans.