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Denmark has announced special restrictions for more than 280,000 people in the northwest of the country after a mutated version of the new coronavirus linked to mink farms was found in humans.
Copenhagen warned that the mutation could threaten the effectiveness of any future vaccines.
“Starting tonight, citizens of seven North Jutland areas are strongly advised to stay in their area to prevent the spread of infection,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference.
He said people were being ordered not to travel there, while bars and restaurants would also close.
“We are asking them in North Jutland to do something completely extraordinary,” Frederiksen said, speaking of a “real shutdown” of the region.
“The eyes of the world are on us,” he added.
Public transportation in the region will be closed and buses and trains will stop before entering or exiting.
Some schoolchildren will have to follow their classes online with restrictions that must last a month.
Denmark, the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, expressed concern on Wednesday by announcing the slaughter of all minks in the country, numbering between 15 and 17 million spread over 1,080 farms, following the discovery of the mutation that can be transmitted to the humans.
The mutation has already been detected in 12 people: 11 cases in the region and one in another.
Department in contact with Irish mink farms
Here, the Department of Agriculture says that no animals in Ireland have tested positive for Covid-19.
He says he has been following developments around the world in relation to Covid in animals, including mink.
In response to a query from RTÉ News, the Department said it has written to mink farms in Ireland on several occasions this year.
There are three mink farms in Ireland; in Donegal, Laois and Kerry.
He says he continues to collaborate with farms to provide information on SARS-CoV-2 infection in mink and advise on the implementation of biosecurity measures to prevent their minks from being exposed to the virus.
No mink has been imported into Ireland during 2020.
Mutations of the virus ‘often harmless’
Scientists say that virus mutations are common and often harmless.
However, some experts have asked Denmark to publish more scientific data to better assess this.
According to the Danish authorities, this mutation of the virus does not cause a more serious disease in humans.
But the antibodies do not inhibit it to the same degree as the normal virus, which they fear could threaten the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines that are being developed around the world.
In North Jutland, health authorities believe that around 5% of coronavirus patients could be carriers of this mutated strain, but no recent cases have been reported.
As such, Viggo Andreasen, a professor of epidemiology at Roskilde University, said the mutation had a “pretty good chance” of disappearing, as long as it is effectively contained.
Denmark has been relatively spared from the ravages of Covid-19 with 733 reported deaths.
However, new national restrictions were imposed in October to curb a rapid increase in cases.
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