COPENHAGEN, Denmark – More than a quarter of a million Danes locked themselves up in the north of the country on Friday, where a mutated variant of the coronavirus inflamed the mink bred by their fur, which led to an order to kill millions of animals.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the resolution aimed to contain the virus and came two days after the government ordered the slaughter of the 15 million mink raised on Denmark’s 1,139 mink farms.
The coronavirus is evolving and, to date, there is no evidence that any of the mutations pose a greater danger to people, but the Danish government does not take any chances.
“Instead of waiting for evidence, it’s better to act quickly,” said Tyra Grove Krause, branch director of the Statens Serum Institute, a government company that maps the spread of coronavirus in Denmark.
In seven municipalities in northern Denmark with a population of approximately 280,000, sports and cultural activities were suspended, public transport was closed and regional borders closed. Only others with “critical functions” such as the police, fitness officials and the government are allowed to cross municipal borders.
It was suggested that domain residents be tested. Starting Saturday, restaurants are scheduled to close and fifth graders will be transferred to distance learning on Monday.
“We want to end this variant of the virus,” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Thursday, adding that the mutated virus had been discovered in 12 people.
Last month, Denmark began sacrificing millions of mink in the north of the country after COVID-19 infections were reported in the inventory there. Across the country, at least 216 of Denmark’s 1,139 fur farms have been infected.
Kaare Moelbak of the Statens Serum Institute said the virus variant had been reported in August and September and that no mutation had been discovered since then, so it is not known if it still exists. The mutated virus discovered on five mink farms, according to the government agency.
WHO officials said each case wants to be evaluated to determine if any of the adjustments mean that the virus behaves differently.
“We are far from making such a resolution,” said Mike Ryan, WHO’s emergency leader. He said such mutations occur all the time in viruses.
“Right now, the evidence we have does recommend that this variant be somehow in its behavior,” he said in Geneva.
Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO food protection expert, said early studies of pigs, chickens and farm animals “show that these species are by no means susceptible in the same way as mink, for example. So even if those animals were infected, they would not be able to and spread the disease in the same way. “
Britain said on Friday that other people in Denmark had isolated themselves for 14 days, adding the country to a list of countries it considered risky.
The Danish government said a virus mutation had been discovered in 12 other mink-inflamed people, which farmers were ordered to slaughter en masse, but experts said the importance of any variant strain and its effect on humans is not. transparent because not yet. be studied.
Denmark, the world’s exporter of mink skins, produces around 17 million skins a year. Kopenhagen Fur, a cooperative of 1,500 Danish breeders, accounts for 40% of the world’s mink production. Most of its exports go to China and Hong Kong.
Mink furs will be destroyed and Danish fur producers have said the slaughter, which would cost up to five billion kronor ($ 78 and five million), could spell the end of the industry in the country.
Overall, Denmark reported 53,180 coronaviruses and 738 deaths.
Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.