Shocking pictures show mass mink culling in Europe in bid to stop mutant strain of coronavirus spreading across globe
THE slaughter of mink with coronavirus is continuing after the disease was discovered in the animals in Greece.
Shocking pictures show piles of dead mink being buried amid fears a mutant Covid strain found IN them could spread across the globe and even undermine the effectiveness of vaccines.
The slaughter began in Denmark when it was reported that 12 people had become ill after being infected by the mutated version of the coronavirus.
The country began killing farmed minks in the north of the country and plans to cull 17 million in all.
But it has not registered any new infected humans with the so-called Cluster-5 mutated coronavirus strain stemming from mink, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said.
In Greece, the culling began after some of the animals tested positive for the coronavirus at a farm near the village of Kaloneri.
The strain found in the mink there had not mutated from that found in humans, said an agriculture ministry official.
More than 2,000 minks in Greece are to be culled after some of the animals tested positive for the coronavirus.
Athanassios Langas of Greece's fur breeders association said that the animals were tested after the farms owners were found to be infected with the virus.
Some 300 breeders have been tested for the coronavirus, with 10 found positive, he said.
More than 80 farms are located in northern Greece, with more than 1.3 million minks though so far there has been no indication that Greece will cull its entire mink population.
Already, another five countries have reported coronavirus outbreaks linked to mink - the US, Spain, Italy, Sweden and The Netherlands
There are 1,139 mink farms in Denmark, employing about 6,000 people and Danish farms account for 40 per cent of global mink fur production making it the world's biggest exporter.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has warned the transmission of Covid in animals could speed up the number of mutations in the virus before it potentially jumps back to people.
The agency said allowing it to spread within minks could have dire consequences.
It waned “the establishment of a virus reservoir among minks may give rise to problematic virus variants in the future”.
In response to the outbreak in Denmark, the UK government banned all lorries, flights and ships coming from the country.
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned the covid strain passed from mink to humans would have "grave" consequences if it were to spread as it might not respond to a possible vaccine.
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The variant "did not fully respond to Covid-19 antibodies" and therefore may have potential knock-on effects on a future vaccine.
He told the House of Commons: "Although the chance of this variant becoming widespread is low, the consequences should that happen would be grave.