Beijing News : Danish Prime Minister Fredrikson apologized to mink farmers with tears during his visit to a mink farm in Colin on November 27, but she also insisted that it was necessary to kill all mink farmed for public health. Many people in Denmark do not “buy it” and call it “crocodile tears”.
Previously, the Danish government ordered the slaughter of more than 10 million farmed mink farms in Denmark to fight the mutant novel coronavirus. Although the order was withdrawn a few days later, millions of minks have been buried. The report said that this move was a major blow to the global fur industry.
In addition, seven European and American countries, including the Netherlands, the United States, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Greece and France, have been infected with mink epidemics. Poland’s health department also said that 18 mink farm employees in the country have been diagnosed with COVID-19, but there is no evidence that mink is a source of infection, and the government continues to conduct animal testing to confirm the source of infection.
Does the novel coronavirus mutate or become more toxic in mink?
Since June this year, Denmark has successively reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 related to mink farming.
On November 4, the Danish government ordered the slaughter of 17 million mink in the country. Mink is a product of high economic value, so this order and action have caused a great uproar in Denmark and even the world, especially affecting many countries in Europe. Countries such as Spain and the Netherlands have artificial mink farming.
The biggest reason for killing mink is that the novel coronavirus in mink has spread to people, causing people to develop COVID-19, and the novel coronavirus in mink has changed. Whether it is more toxic and transmitted than the novel coronavirus transmitted from person to person remains to be studied.
So far, 214 people have been found in Denmark to be infected with the novel coronavirus related to mink farms. Moreover, a study by the Danish National Serum Institute found that a total of five variants of COVID-19 related to mink were found in Denmark, and one of the special variant Cluster 5 infected 12 people. Cluster 5 variants are less sensitive to antibodies. This means that the coronavirus vaccine under development around the world may not be effective for COVID-19 patients carrying Cluster 5.
Although it is not clear whether the novel coronavirus in the mink mutates from human to the mink, or after the mink is infected with the novel coronavirus through the natural environment, there is a problem of mutation in either path, that is, the virus enters different biological systems to produce different types of viral mutations. COVID-19 has produced many mutations of the virus, but it is easy to cause problems when it is transmitted back from animals to people.
In addition, researchers have also found mutant viruses in other European countries, but Denmark’s mutant viruses are more special. It is not clear how serious the threat of Cluster 5 mutant virus is, but considering that the virus mutant from animals and the virus mutants in mink may be more toxic, the governments of Denmark, West and the Netherlands have ordered the killing of mink.
This move was also endorsed by the World Health Organization. The organization suggested that mink in the infected area should be killed as soon as possible, the case of COVID-19 strain should be genetically tested, and the complete gene sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus variant of the novel coronavirus should be shared as soon as possible, so as to urge the infected area to carry out epidemic monitoring and prevent the spread of the virus.
Hans, director of the World Health Organization for Europe, said that the novel coronavirus can be retained on mink and transmitted to each other, which also poses a risk of transmission from mink to human beings, and then the virus is transmitted from person to person. It can also happen that the virus is transmitted to mink by humans.
It is better to be cautious than to regret afterwards. However, after discovering confirmed cases related to mink farming, Denmark’s delay in taking effective action led to the subsequent large-scale slaughter of mink breeding crisis; after the killing, it “recovered its life”… This exposes the chaos and disorder of the Danish government in epidemic prevention and control: “early detection” has not been transformed into “early treatment” It’s a pity.
Hundreds of bodies mysteriously reappeared on the ground: swelling and decaying, dirty.
Or it is necessary to strengthen the management of mink imports.
There are not many mink farmed in China, but there is a great demand for mink skin. China’s mink processing accounts for a large proportion of the world, and most of the mink used in high-end fur clothing comes from Denmark and the United States. According to incomplete statistics, in 2019 alone, the number of mink skins taken in China was 11.69 million, 14.43 million foxes, and 13.59 million raccoons, a total of 40 million.
This situation also lays hidden dangers for the spread of the epidemic. Now imported frozen food across the country has been tested for the novel coronavirus, which is not lacking alarm significance for mink imports.
When the infected mink is skinned in advance and the raw skin is transported to China through the cold chain, the production and marketing link may become a way for the virus to spread.
On the other hand, in the past few years, China has also imported live mink from Denmark for mink breeding. If live mink is infected with the novel coronavirus and mutates, it will also lead to the spread of the virus if it is transported to China through imports.
Considering the risks of public health, on the one hand, China needs to carry out virus testing of imported mink, whether live products or fur, and carefully evaluate the import of such products. On the other hand, it also needs to carry out virus testing for domestic aquaculture mink and staff to transmit the novel coronavirus from animals to people with the variant of the waterproof mink. And from abroad to the domestic.
As some professionals pointed out, the COVID-19 survives longer in winter. Under the context that the epidemic situation abroad is still severe, this puts forward higher requirements for domestic epidemic prevention and control. Pay timely attention to the mutation of the virus, strengthen prevention from two ways: people to person, people and animals, establish a sense of “human” and “thing” to protect against each other, strictly examine any link of the imported cold chain, and be prepared for the rain before you can you be safe.
