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The infection has been found in mink from more than 200 Danish mink farms.
The virus is quite a different mutation from the more common corona variants in society at large.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says she now fears the mutation is so different from the other variants, that the corona vaccine won’t work.
– The worst possible scenario is that we have a pandemic that starts again based in Denmark, says Kåre Mølbak, director of the Statens Serum Institut in Denmark, which corresponds to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
– now it’s serious
Spread
– The virus mutates in the mink and the virus is transmitted to humans, says Frederiksen.
She says part of the reason is that five virus mutations have now been found in mink that are more resistant to antibodies than other corona variants.
– The Statens Serum Institut has evaluated that with the crown mutation that we now see in North Jutland, we can risk the effect of the next vaccine being weakened or, in the worst case, not, says Frederiksen.
She and Danish health authorities fear that resistance and differences will lead to the corona vaccines now being developed not working.
– The mutation of the mink virus can make the vaccine not work, says Frederiksen.
– Continuous mink farming poses a significant risk to public health, says Fredriksen.
– It can get twice as bad
Kill everyone
Denmark is the largest mink producer in the world.
A few weeks ago, Danish health authorities announced that they would kill around a million minks.
On Wednesday night, Frederiksen says the remaining 15-17 million minks will also be killed.
This will be done, among others, by the Armed Forces and the National Guard.
Good outlook in Norway
At a meeting of the Norwegian Emergency Preparedness Committee against biological incidents, mink farms were a topic no later than Tuesday, October 27.
Then director Ingunn Godal of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority said they have a good overview.
“Godal emphasizes that when it comes to mink, there have been early meetings and there is a good overview of mink farms in Norway. The fur animal team itself has taken the initiative of a series of precautionary measures, which the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was unable to impose at an early stage on the industry itself, “the meeting minutes stated.
