The US Department of Agriculture announced that it had confirmed the first known case of the Coronavirus, not a wild animal, which is a mink, and according to a time now news report, this discovery increases concerns about the outbreak of the virus in mink animals, as the virus killed more than 15,000 of the animals farmed in the states United since August.
Global health officials are investigating the potential risks that animals may pose to humans after Denmark last month embarked on a plan to eradicate the 17 million farmed minks, warning that the mutated coronavirus strain could be transmitted to humans.
The US Department of Agriculture said in a notice that it had confirmed the case in “free-range wild mink” in Utah as part of monitoring wildlife around infected farms. The US Department of Agriculture added that samples were taken from many animals from different types of wildlife, all of which were negative.
The agency said that it notified the World Organization for Animal Health of the recent case, but said that there is no evidence of the virus spreading in the wild gatherings around the infected mink farms, and the US Department of Agriculture confirmed in the notice: “To our knowledge, this is the first free-range domestic wild animal that has been confirmed.” Coronavirus, as the virus has also been found in zoo tigers, cats and domestic dogs.