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The Danish reference center for infectious diseases, the Statens Serum Institute (SSI), and the World Health Organization, WHO, indicated today that it is still too early to understand what this variant of Sars-CoV2 means, but the Danish Executive has quickly taken action for “prevention.”
Among the decisions is the sacrifice of all minks in captivity, since these animals are linked to mutations, and the perimeter closure for four weeks of the seven municipalities with the most cases, where there are many breeding centers for these animals.
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The Danish Foreign Minister, Jeppe Kofod, assured in a press conference with experts convened for international media that the objective of Copenhagen with these measures is to “anticipate events”, especially in the face of the “risk” posed by a mutated virus .
Act “quickly” and “on time”
The head of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of Infectious Diseases of the SSI, Tyra Grove Krause, explained that mutations pose a potential risk and that, although at the moment none have been confirmed, in a pandemic it is preferable to anticipate.
“With this concern, we must begin to avoid transmission. We must act quickly. Although of course we must also do all the necessary studies to see if the concern is real,” he said.
The expert explained that she has detected that Sars-CoV2 has been transmitted from humans to minks raised on farms and that up to five different mutations of the pathogen have been detected in these animals.
In addition, he pointed out that at least 214 people have been infected back with these variants of the coronavirus in Denmark, among which the workers of these mink breeding centers stand out.
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Of the five mutations, Krause added, the so-called “Cluster 5” (with 12 humans infected by this variant) is of special interest to experts because it presents modifications that affect the viral spicule (peplomer) of the coronavirus, the multiple ‘arms’ with which the pathogen latches onto the cells of its host to replicate.
This is relevant because most of the vaccines that are currently working around the clock to tackle the pandemic focus on those arms, as they seek to prevent the virus from replicating, de facto preventing the disease.
The mutation “could mean that vaccines would be less effective against these variants of the virus,” Krause argued.
In addition, in the tests carried out so far, it has been found that these five mutations showed “less sensitivity” to antibodies from human patients who had overcome the disease.
The WHO, however, has called for calm. At a press conference in Geneva, its chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, has assured that it is “too early” to understand the implications of these mutations and pointed out that, from what is known so far, they do not seem to modify the basic behavior of the Sars-CoV2.
The director of Health Emergencies of the WHO, Mike Ryan, added that mutations are common in a pandemic “in which there are millions of infected” and that cross-infections between humans and animals in captivity are also frequent.
Sacrifices and confinement
The Danish government, for its part, has already taken action. It has ordered the urgent sacrifice of the 17 million minks that reside in the 1,000 breeding centers of the country and has imposed the greatest restrictions on mobility throughout the country in the region where the majority of cases with these mutations have been detected.
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The sacrifice of these animals has started with the more than 200 farms where minks with coronavirus have been found, plus the hundred centers that are less than 9 kilometers from those directly affected. Then the measure will be extended to the entire country, in a process that will last just a few weeks.
For its part, in the seven confined municipalities of North Jutland (north of the country), the hotel industry will be closed and all cultural and sporting events will be suspended. The schools will remain open.
The health authorities plan to carry out coronavirus tests to the around 280,000 inhabitants of these localities and, among those positive, the type of variant present will be analyzed.
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