Enlarge / Coronavirus has swept by means of mink farms in Europe. (credit score: Getty | Viktor Drachev)

The pandemic coronavirus has made its method onto two mink farms in Utah, resulting in “unusually giant numbers” of lifeless animals, based on a Tuesday announcement by the US Division of Agriculture.

These are the primary reported instances of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, infecting mink within the nation. For months, authorities in European nations, together with the Netherlands, Denmark, and Spain, have reported outbreaks in mink pelt farms, resulting in the culling of greater than one million of the delicate, furry mammals. From laboratory experiments, it’s additionally clear that ferrets, a relative of minks, are additionally readily contaminated with the novel coronavirus.

The affected farms in Utah reported instances of COVID-19 in individuals engaged on the farms, who could have unfold the an infection to the animals.