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RTÉ News understands that tests are being conducted on mink farms in Cork, Donegal and Laois as part of the enhanced surveillance implemented by the Department of Agriculture in the wake of the discovery of a Covid-19 variant on mink farms in other countries.
The Department of Agriculture has written to the operators of the three mink farms here and has issued advice on biosecurity and other measures to prevent minks from being exposed to a variant of Covid-19.
No mink has been imported into Ireland during 2020, according to the Department.
The World Health Organization says it has been reported of Covid-19 cases related to mink farms in a total of six countries.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States of America have identified what has been termed a “unique variant” of the virus in mink farms.
Twelve confirmed cases of Covid in Denmark were in people between the ages of seven and 79, eight of them had a link to the mink farming industry.
Denmark is one of the world’s largest producers of mink fur. There are around 1,500 mink farms and they produce around 16 million fur every year. An animal sacrifice is taking place nationwide.
The WHO said the new variant, known as the “Cluster-5” variant, had a combination of mutations or changes that had not been previously observed.
In Ireland there have been no cases in the industry, there are only three mink farms here with around 100,000 furs produced annually.
Ryanair canceled all flights between Denmark and the UK after Britain ordered its flight crews on those routes to be quarantined for 14 days due to widespread outbreaks of coronavirus in Danish mink farms.
The airline described the quarantine measures as an “unfounded” decision, arguing that UK crew members never leave the aircraft during the 25-minute response at Copenhagen airport.
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Meanwhile, the chairman of the Epidemiology and Public Health section of the Royal Society of Medicine has said that there is real concern that if a new strain of Covid-19 discovered in mink in Denmark becomes dominant, much of the work done to date with vaccinations will. it will be “in vain” and its effectiveness will be reduced.
Dr Gabriel Scally said that he personally believes that travel to and from Denmark should be restricted until the outbreak is completely under control and some sort of managed isolation system needs to be introduced in the UK and Ireland because self-isolation is not working. all right.
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