NewsTracker Answers for week of Nov. 09, 2020

Q: Denmark has ordered the slaughter of more than 15 million mink at more than 1,000 fur farms because many are infected with a mutant strain of the covid-19 virus that has now spread to more than 200 people and may prove more resistant to a future vaccine. Where is Denmark?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Denmark also placed more than a quarter million people in lockdown to control the spread of the mutated virus. The lockdown site is at the northern end of which peninsula that contains most of the land area of Denmark proper?

A. Crimean

B. Iberian

C. Jutland

D. Scandinavian

C. The Jutland Peninsula forms the continental portion of Denmark which also occupies an archipelago of 443 named islands. Denmark is the southernmost of the three Scandinavian countries. The other two – Norway and Sweden – are on the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Q: What nation occupies the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula?

A. Belgium

B. Germany

C. Netherlands

D. Poland

B. Germany like the rest of Europe is seeing an "explosion" of covid-19 cases, according to the World Health Organization. Denmark’s southern neighbor last week recorded nearly 20,000 new coronavirus cases in one day, its highest level yet.

Q: Infected humans spread the coronavirus to mink on Denmark’s fur farms. The virus mutated in the animals then spread back to humans. The covid-19 virus was believed to have originally spread from animals to humans in which nation?

A. China

B. India

C. Italy

D. South Africa

A. The first reported human covid-19 cases were linked to a market in China that sold wild animals for food. Denmark’s mutated strain has not been found to be more dangerous than the original coronavirus, but it appears to have a weak reaction to antibodies which could affect a future vaccine's effectiveness.

Q: Denmark’s fur farmers say the order to slaughter all the nation’s mink will destroy their industry. Where else have coronavirus outbreaks been reported on mink farms?

A. Italy

B. Spain

C. United States

D. All of the above

D. More than 50 million mink a year are bred for their fur, mainly in China, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland. Outbreaks have been reported on fur farms in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States, and millions of animals have had to be culled.