France orders the killing of a thousand mink infected with …

The government of France ordered kill around 1000 mink after detecting the presence of coronavirus in a hatchery in the Eure and Loir departments, according to the country’s ministries of Agriculture, Health and Ecological Transition.

“The slaughter of the thousand animals still present on the farm and the elimination of the products of these animals have been ordered,” the French portfolios announced in a statement.

Of three farms of the country’s remaining mink, one is not infected and two others “are still being analyzed”. The results will be ready this week.

In this way, France joins the six countries which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), have reported cases of covid-19 in mink farms: Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and United States.

The case of Denmark

The main outbreak in mink farms was detected in Denmark, where animals infected 200 people with coronavirus, including 12 with a new variant called Cluster 5, which could affect the action of vaccines in humans.

To contain the situation, the Danish authorities announced earlier this month the sacrifice of more than 15 million mink available in the country. Danish laws, however, only allowed the slaughter of infected animals or those within 4.8 miles of credible accredited sources, which precipitated a political conflict.

“We made a mistake. There is no legal basis for asking mink farms to slaughter their animals outside contagion areas”, admitted the Minister of Food, Mogens Jensen, who ended up to resign.

Regarding the Cluster 5 variant, WHO explained that “it exhibits a combination of mutations that had not been observed before”, while specifying that “the implications of the changes identified in this variant are not yet fully understood. “. According to the specialized agency, this mutation shows “moderately reduced sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies”.