denmark Fears of mutated coronavirus transmission from minks to humans prompts Denmark to seek cull Danish government report shows mutation in the virus in some people who became infected by minks Denmark's prime minister said Wednesday that the government wants to cull all minks on Danish farms, to minimize the risk of the animals re-transmitting a mutated form of the coronavirus to humans. Mette Frederiksen said a report from a government agency that maps the coronavirus in Denmark has shown a mutation in the virus found in 12 people in the northern part of the country who became infected by minks. Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said half of the 783 human COVID-19 cases in northern Denmark "are related" to mink. "It is very, very serious," Frederiksen said. "Thus, the mutated virus in minks can have devastating consequences worldwide." Denmark is one of the world's main mink fur exporters, producing an estimated 17 million furs per year. Kopenhagen Fur, a co-operative of 1,500 Danish breeders, accounts for 40 per cent of the global mink production. Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong. According to government estimates, culling the country's 15 million minks could cost up to 5 billion kroner ($1 billion Cdn). National police head Thorkild Fogde said "it should happen as soon as possible." Denmark's minister for food, Mogens Jensen, said 207 farms were now infected, up from 41 last month, and the disease has spread to all of the western peninsula of Jutland.

canada Canada quietly updates COVID-19 guidelines on risk of airborne spread Public Health Agency of Canada previously made no mention of aerosol transmission in federal recommendations Canada has quietly revised its guidelines on how COVID-19 spreads to include the risk of aerosol transmission, weeks after other countries and international health organizations acknowledged the airborne threat of the coronavirus. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) updated its guidance without notice this week, making mention of the risk of transmission from aerosols — or microscopic airborne particles — for the first time. "SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spreads from an infected person to others through respiratory droplets and aerosols created when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, shouts, or talks," the updated guidance said. "The droplets vary in size from large droplets that fall to the ground rapidly (within seconds or minutes) near the infected person, to smaller droplets, sometimes called aerosols, which linger in the air under some circumstances." The federal agency's guidelines previously said the virus spreads only through breathing in respiratory droplets, touching contaminated surfaces and common greetings like handshakes and hugs.