[ad_1]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – More than a quarter of a million Danes locked themselves in an area in the north of the country on Friday where a mutated variant of the coronavirus infected mink raised for their fur, leading to an order to kill millions of animals .
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the measure was believed to contain the virus and came two days after the government ordered the culling of the 15 million mink raised on Denmark’s 1,139 mink farms.
The coronavirus is constantly evolving and, to date, there is no evidence that any of the mutations pose an increased danger to people. But the Danish authorities are not taking any risks.
“Instead of waiting for evidence, you better act quickly,” said Tyra Grove Krause, department head at the Statens Serum Institut, a government agency that maps the spread of the coronavirus in Denmark.
In seven municipalities in northern Denmark with around 280,000 inhabitants, sporting and cultural activities have been suspended, public transport has been stopped and regional borders have been closed. Only people with “critical functions” such as police, health officials and various authorities are allowed to cross municipal borders.
Residents of the region have been invited to get tested. Starting Saturday, restaurants are scheduled to close and students in grades five and up will switch to distance learning on Monday.
“We have to get rid of this variant of the virus completely,” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said on Thursday, adding that the mutated virus had been found in 12 people.
Last month, Denmark began slaughtering millions of mink in the north of the country after COVID-19 infections were reported among the stock there. Across the country, at least 216 of the 1,139 fur farms in Denmark have now been infected.
Kaare Moelbak of the Statens Serum Institut said the variant of the virus was registered in August and September and no mutations have been found since, so it was not known if it still exists. The mutated virus was found in five mink farms, according to the government agency.
WHO officials said each case must be evaluated to determine if any of the changes mean the virus is behaving differently.
“We are a long way from making a decision like this,” said Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergency manager. He said that such mutations happen all the time in viruses.
“At this time, the evidence we have does not suggest that this variant is in any way different in the way it behaves,” he said in Geneva.
Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO food safety expert, said early studies on pigs, chickens and cattle “show that these species are not at all susceptible in the same way as mink, for example. . So even if these animals were infected, they could not maintain and spread the disease in the same way. “
Britain said on Friday that people coming from Denmark were to self-isolate for 14 days, adding the country to a list of countries it deemed risky.
The Danish government said a mutation in the virus was found in 12 people infected with mink, which farmers were ordered to slaughter en masse, but experts said the importance of any variant strain and its effect on humans was unclear as it was not yet clear. to be studied.
Denmark, the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, produces around 17 million furs per year.
Kopenhagen Fur, a cooperative of 1,500 Danish breeders, accounts for 40% of global mink production. Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong.
Mink skins will be destroyed and Danish fur breeders have said slaughter, which will cost up to 5 billion crowns ($ 785 million), could spell the end of the industry in the country.
Overall, Denmark has reported 53,180 coronavirus cases and 738 deaths.
[ad_2]
Source link