In a videoconference meeting on Monday 16 November, the EU agriculture ministers expressed their concerns about the Covid-19 cases in mink farms and about transmission to humans, and called for a European approach to deal with the problem.
Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides stated that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, in collaboration with the European Food Safety Authority and the European Medicines Agency, published a rapid risk assessment on 12 November. “This provides a common framework for a better understanding of the risks to human health, particularly the new variant detected in Denmark”, the Commissioner said.
She said that these variants do not appear to be transmitted any more easily than the other variants of Covid-19 in circulation. “If the situation changes, the risk assessment will be reviewed immediately to re-assess the overall risk to human health and determine the most appropriate measures to take”, she said.
Denmark has reported that it has culled nearly 17 million mink following cases of Covid-19 transmitted to humans.
The Netherlands, which has experienced cases on breeding farms, has passed a decree banning the breeding of mink from 2024 with retroactive effect (from 2021).
Belgium has conducted tests in mink farms, but so far these have come back negative.
France has increased monitoring on its four mink farms, which have not shown any signs of infection. Greece has detected one outbreak on a family farm and the animals were put down.
A number of ministers welcomed the decision to consider the mink farm virus as an emerging disease that can be notified to the OIE. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)