In Denmark, a political crisis has been added to the health crisis linked to the coronavirus.
On Wednesday 18 November, the Danish opposition called for the resignation of the Social Democratic Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, in the wake of that of her Minister of Agriculture after the illegal slaughter of millions of mink contaminated by a variant of the coronavirus .
On Thursday, the Danish Minister of Health announced that it was "very likely" that this mutation was gone, citing a study by the National Institute of Serology.
The day before, the Minister of Agriculture, Mogens Jensen, announced on public television DR that he was leaving his post.
"I believe that I no longer have the necessary support from the parties in Parliament," he said.
"I have to submit my resignation."
It is quite clear that errors have been made within my ministry, and I take responsibility for them, ”he added when an audit was published on the course of events.
On November 4, Denmark ordered the elimination of all its mink - between 15 and 17 million heads - following the discovery of a mutation of the new coronavirus transmissible to humans in these mammals, which could according to Copenhagen compromise the effectiveness of a future human vaccine.
In an article published the same day, the Berlingske News site questioned whether Denmark might not "become the new Wuhan" because of mink farms.
Since then, the dispute has been mounting.
The press has indeed revealed that the legislation does not allow to impose the slaughter of animals outside the areas of concentration of sick animals, which the government has recognized.
Scientific challenge
A number of pastoralists have protested against the slaughter of healthy animals, and scientists have also reacted to statements by the government and some media.
François Balloux, professor of genetics at University College London (UCL), in particular described on Twitter as "irresponsible" the article by Berlingske.
This new mink COVID-19 mutation story, which is making the rounds on Twitter is highly problematic.
There are elements of truth in it but the reporting is completely irresponsible.
1 / https: //t.co/SiZxtmwwKE
- Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) November 4, 2020
According to him, the possibility of transmission of Covid-19 from mink to humans has long been established, but does not mark a worsening of the epidemic.
"There are thousands of mutations in # SARSCoV2 constantly appearing. The fact that a few have been observed in mink will not change the strains circulating in humans," says François Balloux.
The claim that the mutation in mink could endanger the vaccine intended for humans is "stupid", says the scientist even though mink farms "represent reservoirs for the virus, making it more difficult to maintain transmission" .
The 'vaccine escape' scare story is just idiotic.
Vaccine-escape mutations may (or not) arise in humans in the future, if they are advantageous to the virus for (once vaccines will be deployed).
They definitely won't be fueled by mutations having emerged in minks.
7 /
- Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) November 4, 2020
Mette Frederiksen issued a public apology and blamed the agriculture ministry for the mistake, but a government investigation released on Wednesday showed the decision to slaughter the country's 17 million farmed mink was taken collectively. by the government.
The investigation also showed that before the Prime Minister announced on television this slaughter order on November 4, 2020, her services had warned her against the legality of this decision, taken as a health precaution.
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