The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) is conducting additional research into the possible deliberate contamination of mink with the corona virus. However, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality there are no indications for this as yet.
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This is what agriculture minister Carola Schouten says when reporting three new corona outbreaks at mink farms. This concerns a company in Venhorst with 5,700 mother birds and two companies in Wanroij with 8,400 and 2,600 mother animals respectively. The infestations came to light after dead minks were sent from the Early Warning System. A total of 47 companies in the Netherlands are now infected.
While there is no evidence of deliberate infestation of minks, rumors have circulated. These are fed by current events, because the Outbreak Management Team-Zoonoses (OMT-Z) had expected that no new companies would become infected after mid-August due to the stricter measures. That turns out not to be the case.
Very coincidental
‘That is very coincidental,’ says D66 Member of Parliament Tjeerd de Groot about those corona outbreaks. He therefore urged research into the spread of this virus. According to the MP, mink farmers receive generous compensation if their company is cleared due to a corona infection.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality indicates the stricter control has to do with the new infections after mid-August. It is unclear how these companies got infected. ‘We want to use the extra checks to get as complete a picture as possible of possible contamination routes. We want to be able to rule out things. ‘
Contamination source
OMT-Z expects humans to be the most likely source of contamination from mink farms. LTO sees this NVWA investigation as a way for De Groot to sharpen the matter and therefore does not want to respond. Certainly also because, according to LTO, Minister Schouten reported this theory in a letter to the Lower House more than a week ago.
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