Denmark will cull all its mink – as many as 17 million – after a mutatedform of coronavirus that can spread to humans was found on mink farms.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the mutated virus posed a “risk to theeffectiveness” of a future Covid-19 vaccine.

Denmark is the world’s biggest producer of mink fur and its main exportmarkets are China and Hong Kong.

The culling began late last month, after many mink cases were detected.

Coronavirus cases have also been detected in farmed mink in the Netherlandsand Spain since the pandemic began in Europe.

But cases are spreading fast in Denmark – 207 mink farms in Jutland areaffected – and at least five cases of the new virus strain were found. Twelvepeople had become infected, the authorities said.

Prime Minister Frederiksen described the situation as “very, very serious”.Danish police and army personnel will help to carry out the mass cull.

Ms Frederiksen cited a government report which said the mutated virus had beenfound to weaken the body’s ability to form antibodies, potentially making thecurrent vaccines under development for Covid-19 ineffective.

“We have a great responsibility towards our own population, but with themutation that has now been found, we have an even greater responsibility forthe rest of the world as well,” she told a news conference.

Since the start of the pandemic Denmark has reported 52,265 human cases ofCovid-19 and 733 deaths, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

Mink virus might jeopardise vaccines

More than 50 million mink a year are bred for their fur, mainly in China,Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland. Outbreaks have been reported in fur farmsin the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and the US, and millions of animalshave had to be culled.

Mink, like their close relatives ferrets, are known to be susceptible tocoronavirus, and like humans, they can show a range of symptoms, from no signsof illness at all, to severe problems, such as pneumonia.

Mink become infected through catching the virus from humans. But geneticdetective work has shown that in a small number of cases, in the Netherlandsand now Denmark, the virus seems to have passed the other way, from mink tohumans.

The big public health concern is that any mutation to the coronavirus as itpasses between mink and humans might be enough to stop human vaccines working,if and when they become available. Some scientists are now calling for acomplete ban on mink production, saying it impedes our response and recoveryfrom the pandemic.

Source: BBC – Image Reuters

Previous 100,000 goldfish pulled from Minnesota lake, video shows. But that’snot even half

Next RSPCA NSW welcomes push for tougher penalties for animal cruelty offences