health professionals
Risk of new corona variants from mink breeding low
Mink look through the bars of their cages in Naestved, Denmark. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
In 2020, all Danish mink were killed for fear of mutating corona variants. A new risk assessment has now been carried out.
Danish health experts say the risk of a new worrying variant of coronavirus emerging from a return to mink farming in Denmark is limited.
The exact probability of the emergence of new variants in the event of a limited resumption of mink husbandry is difficult to estimate, but can be described as low overall, wrote the state health institute SSI in a risk assessment published today. Should this happen, however, the consequences could be great, the report said.
All Danish mink killed in 2020
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced in November 2020 that all mink in the country should be killed. The radical step was justified by the fact that the corona virus had mutated in the animals and had been transmitted to humans. The mass culling of millions of mink had led to a major debate in the country, partly because there was no legal basis for the killing and it had to be created afterwards. At the same time, keeping mink was banned and the keepers were compensated.
Then, in early March this year, the Danish Ministry of Health asked the SSI to assess the human health risk of resuming the attitude as of January 1, 2023. The SSI report should serve as a decisive basis for the political decision as to whether mink breeding in Germany’s northernmost neighboring country will be permitted again next year.