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A strain of the coronavirus discovered in mink on a farm in northern Poland can be transmitted to humans and vice versa, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Saturday.
OVID-19 was found in minks in Kartuzy County late last month, in what agricultural officials said was the first such case in Poland, raising fears of costly culls in an industry that has more than 350 farms in the country.
“The data obtained from the head of sanitary inspection and the experiences of the past year in Denmark and the Netherlands clearly indicate that also in Poland, this virus can spread from mink to humans and vice versa,” the ministry said in a statement.
Denmark’s entire herd of some 17 million minks, one of the largest in the world, was ordered to be euthanized in early November after hundreds of farms suffered outbreaks of coronavirus and authorities found mutated strains of the virus among people.
In August, the Netherlands decided to order the closure of more than 100 mink farms after several employees contracted COVID-19.
Following the discovery of COVID-19 at the farm in Kartuzy county, Polish authorities said that all minks would be euthanized.
Reuters
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