Denmark will slaughter all of the fifteen million mink raised on its territory because of a mutation of the Covid-19.
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Henning Bagger / AP / SIPA
Denmark will slaughter all of its mink raised on its territory, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on Wednesday.
At issue: a mutation of Covid-19 in these animals, which has already been transmitted to 12 people.
"The virus mutated via mink can create the risk that the future vaccine will not work as it should (...) It is necessary to slaughter all the mink", declared the Prime Minister during a press conference, for justify the killing of 15 to 17 million animals according to the authorities.
According to the explanations of the Danish authorities, this mutation does not result in more serious effects in humans but in a lower effectiveness of human antibodies, which threatens the development of a vaccine against Covid-19.
The mutated virus detected in mink “does not respond to antibodies as much as the normal virus.
Antibodies still have an effect, but not as effective, ”explained Danish Infectious Disease Control Authority (SSI) head Kåre Mølbak.
World's leading exporter of mink skins
"Continuing to breed mink would involve a much higher risk to public health, both in Denmark and abroad," he stressed.
Denmark is the world's largest exporter of mink skins, an activity that has made the fortune of more than a thousand farms in the small Nordic kingdom.
After the first cases of Covid-19 in mink, Copenhagen had already launched a slaughter campaign this summer in infected farms.
The twelve cases of transmission to humans of the mutated virus have been detected in northern Jutland (west), where most of the farms are concentrated.
According to Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke, "research has shown that the mutations could affect current candidates for a vaccine against Covid-19".
"It is a threat to the development of vaccines against the coronavirus, this is why we must lead a national campaign," he insisted.
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