Corona in Europe: minks look cute. But apparently these fur animals have become infected with the virus. Now employees of a fur farm have contracted Covid-19.
- The corona virus has triggered a worldwide pandemic.
- Corona infection has been detected in mink in the Netherlands. Can animals infect humans?
- Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus * and the corona news from Germany. You can also find current case numbers in Germany as a map.
The Hague - In the Netherlands, a person may have been infected with the new corona virus by a mink . According to new studies, it is likely that an employee of a mink farm has contracted an animal, the Ministry of Agriculture in The Hague said.
Corona risk from mink
It doesn't seem so absurd. The corona virus comes from the animal kingdom. Coronaviruses were also found in Mader dogs , virologist Christian Drosten said in an interview with The Guardian in April. In his view, the corona pandemic started on a fur farm in China rather than on a market in Wuhan. Raccoon dogs would be caught in the wild and bred on farms.
The Netherlands now wants to encourage fur animal breeders to close mink farms earlier than planned, Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten said on Wednesday, according to the ANP news agency.
Corona puts fur breeders in trouble
Regardless of the corona pandemic, all Dutch mink farms must be closed by 2024, according to the Supreme Court decision. Subsidy offers could possibly lead operators to implement this sooner, Schouten explained.
The Ministry ordered examinations of animals in all mink farms. However, the health authority RIVM estimates that the risk of infection for people outside the stable systems is extremely low.
At the end of April, the new corona virus was found in several minks in two farms in the province of Noord-Brabant near the border with North Rhine-Westphalia. In order to prevent the virus from spreading, both farms were cordoned off within a radius of 400 meters. The Minister of Agriculture also mandated mink breeders and veterinarians to report corona symptoms.
dpa / ml
