Why Denmark Kill Mink ? Reasons Denmarks to kill the mink . nationwide deserve a vigil
Recently, six countries including Denmark, the United States, and Italy reported to the World Health Organization that the new coronavirus has been found in their mink farms. Among them, Denmark reported that there have been many cases of “bred mink transmitting the mutant Coronavirus to humans.” Therefore, Danish Prime Minister Met Frazerriksen stated that the government will slaughter all up to 17 million farmed minks in Denmark. At the same time, 7 cities in the north were “blocked”. At the same time, the United Kingdom, Norway and other countries have also introduced new Pandemic prevention measures. The World Health Organization said that it is reviewing the biosafety of mink farms on a global scale.
Denmark issued a national “mink culling order”
Recently, a nationwide “mink culling” was launched across Denmark.
According to the Danish government’s plan, the country’s approximately 17 million mink farms will be culled and “blocked” the country’s main mink farms-seven cities in northern Jutland-until early December.
According to Danish police chief Vogeld at a press conference on the 7th local time, about 16 million farmed minks have been slaughtered so far. Those involved in the culling operation included the Danish Armed Forces, the Food and Veterinary Service and private sector staff. The remaining work will be completed in the next week.
However, completing the culling is only the first step, and then all dead minks need to be strictly handled.
The killed mink will be buried in the military training area. The choice of the burial area is designated by the Danish Nature Conservation Agency. These areas must not only ensure that there is no drinking water, but also be far away from nature reserves. The military training areas of Karup and Holstebro were the first places to bury minks. In the long run, it may be necessary to find more landfills.
Multiple countries report similar cases
In fact, this is not the first mink culling in a European country. As early as June this year, a Coronavirus Pandemic broke out in a mink farm in the Netherlands, resulting in tens of thousands of mink being culled. In July, a case was found in a farm in Aragon, Spain, and another 100,000 minks were processed.
According to the report of the World Health Organization, “As of now, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States have reported cases of farmed mink infection with Coronavirus to the WHO.”
The WHO and its regional offices are reviewing the biosafety of mink farms in various regions, and are culling, quarantining, imposing a mink embargo and traffic blockade to prevent similar situations from recurring in other regions.
At the same time, many European countries also announced a number of measures to deal with the spread of Pandemic caused by mink.
In the UK, the government announced that non-British citizens or residents who have been in Denmark or have passed through Denmark in the past 14 days are not allowed to enter the UK; British citizens and residents returning to the UK from Denmark or via Denmark, together with their family members, must self-quarantine for 14 days.
In Norway, all citizens with entry records from Denmark in the past two weeks must be tested for the new coronavirus, and regardless of the test results, they must be isolated for ten days from the day they arrive in Norway.
In Spain, the government culled 90,000 minks. Prior to this, a Coronavirus broke out in a mink farm in Spain. Seven workers in the Aragon Autonomous Region were infected with the Coronavirus. Later, the relevant local authorities tested the mink raised on the farm for the virus, and the positive rate in the latest round of testing reached 87%.
In the Netherlands, the government lists mink as a prohibited item for transportation and prohibits citizens from visiting mink breeding bases. At the same time, 1.1 million minks in 26 breeding bases in the Netherlands were culled.
In Denmark: The government imposed a strict blockade on northern Jutland, stopped public transportation in seven related cities and regions, and urged about 280,000 residents to stay in the city and prohibit foreigners from entering. Not only that, local restaurants, stadiums and gyms were all closed. Students can only teach online at home. All citizens in the affected communities will be tested for Coronavirus.
In Belgium: The government is closely monitoring the domestic mink farming industry and testing the mink regularly.
Determined to make a full culling only because the Pandemic cannot be delayed
As one of the world’s largest mink exporters, Denmark’s mink export value can reach about 5.16 billion yuan per year. Some analysts pointed out that the nationwide mink culling order for the entire territory of Denmark may bring “the disaster” to the Danish mink industry chain, which will affect approximately 280,000 people.
The root cause of such a large number of cullings and such a wide range of coverage has led the Danish government to make so much determination is the Coronavirus that has mutated in farmed mink and has been transmitted to people.
So far, 214 people in Denmark have been infected with the new coronavirus related to mink farms.
The Danish National Serum Institute said that a total of five mink-related new coronavirus variants have been found in Denmark, and one particular variant has infected 12 people.
Despite this, Denmark still ordered the slaughter of all farmed minks in the country to deal with the mutation and spread of Coronavirus in farmed minks. The Danish government clearly understands that if mink becomes another important host for the spread of the Coronavirus, the already urgent global Pandemic will be hit hard.
According to WHO data, as of 16:07 on November 8th Central European Time (23:07 on November 8th, Beijing time), there were a total of 49,578,590 confirmed cases of Pandemic worldwide, and a total of 1,245,717 deaths. On the 8th, there were 441,696 new confirmed cases of Pandemic worldwide and 6,037 new deaths.
Against the background that the global Pandemic is about to exceed the 50 million mark, multiple world and national health organizations have taken urgent action to jointly respond.
In the face of the “mink-to-human” Pandemic in many countries, WHO recommends that minks in infected areas should be culled as soon as possible, genetic testing of new coronavirus strain cases should be carried out, and the complete genetic sequence of the new coronavirus variant SARS-CoV-2 should be shared as soon as possible , To urge the infected areas to monitor the Pandemic situation to prevent the spread of the virus.
The WHO explained that “the Coronavirus can persist in the mink and cause it to infect each other, which also poses the risk of transmission from the mink to humans, and then the transmission of the virus between people. The virus can also be transmitted to the mink by humans. occur.”
WHO experts believe that when a virus infection spreads between humans and animals, “gene mutations may occur.” This variation can be found by studying the genome sequence.
Faced with the mutant virus carried by the mink, Hans, the director of the WHO European Office, said that he did not know the seriousness of the threat of the mutant virus, but it is better to be cautious than regret afterwards.
At present, WHO has cooperated with its European regional office, the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and relevant Danish agencies to jointly assess the new coronavirus strains carried by Danish mink, and strive to more accurately and quickly grasp the “mink transmission” The spread of Pandemic.
In the fight against the Coronavirus, various countries and the world economy have been affected to varying degrees, especially in the transportation industry, tourism and catering industry, and import and export industries. It is still unclear how much the Danish mink culling will have on the world mink industry.
But what is clear is that, whether it is the “mink culling order”, the “movement restriction order”, or the “closing the city to fight the Pandemic” and “the whole city inspection”, behind every categorical order, while sacrificing short-term benefits, they are all Work hard to finally defeat the Coronavirus…
