Covid mutated in mink is the new threat

AGI – In Europe struggling with the second wave of Covid-19 minks are also scary, carriers of mutations of the virus transmitted to man, representing a danger to his immunity in view of a future vaccine. After the red alert was triggered in Denmark for the contagion of 12 people, prompting the authorities to proceed with a mass killing of the small mammal, even Britain in lockdown has decided to protect itself by decreeing the obligation of quarantine for those arriving from the Scandinavian country.

Numbers in hand, in Denmark the State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found since last June at least 214 people infected with mink-related versions of the coronavirus. This was reported by the British newspaper Guardian, although so far only 12 people have been infected with the mutated strain, found in five farms. However, the mutation of the virus transmitted by mink has no serious effects on humans but decreases the effectiveness of human antibodies, threatening the creation of a vaccine against Covid-19.

The mink danger was immediately acknowledged by the United Kingdom which, with an emergency measure launched by the government of Boris Johnson, requires quarantine for those arriving or returning from Denmark tonight. The restrictive measure concerning the Northern European country, one of the very few still exempt from this caution, was signed by the British Transport Minister, Grant Shapps, and provides 14-day precautionary self-isolation for those coming from Danish territory.

Maximum attention also from the World Health Organization (WHO) according to which “in the strain found in mink in Denmark, scientists have not yet noticed changes that make the virus more severe, more transmissible or influence human reinfection “. However, further studies are needed to be certain. It is in this direction that WHO is working with the Danish authorities, carrying out joint research as well as efforts to control the phenomenon.

After the worrying discovery, the Danish authorities decided to have the entire mink population culled, between 15 and 17 million specimens. A mass slaughter defined as “necessary” by Prime Minister danse Mette Frederiksen, in a country that is the first world exporter of its precious fur. For Frederiksen, continuing to breed mink would involve a much higher risk to public health, both in Denmark and abroad. At a press conference to announce the provision, he said that “the eyes of the world are on us”, underlining the “sense of responsibility”. In the north of the country, according to some local statistical data, 50% of the 783 patients infected with Covid-19 were in some way related to mink, as a possible cause of transmission of the virus.

The epicenter of the ‘mink crisis’ is the North Jutland region, where the authorities have decreed a lockdown in force since yesterday, preventing residents from leaving the area where cases of infections from mink to humans have occurred. The mass culling decision was met with protests from ranchers who blocked the roads with tractors and agricultural vehicles.

Out of 5.8 million Danes, 50,530 have so far infected with Covid-19, and 729 have died.

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