Danish visitors banned from UK after Covid mink scare
A CLAMPDOWN on arrivals to Britain from Denmark was brought in yesterday following the discovery of mutated coronavirus on mink farms.
All non-british residents and those who have passed through Denmark in the past 14 days are being denied entry, while returning British nationals and residents must quarantine for 14 days.
The travel ban was imposed after the mutation – which could render any potential Covid vaccine useless – spread to five other countries.
A cull of Denmark’s 15 million mink population continued yesterday and PM Mette Frederiksen warned the unique SARS-COV-2 strain infecting some of them could pose a “risk to the effectiveness” of a potential vaccine.
Since June, Danish authorities have found 214 human cases with the SARS-COV-2 variants linked to farmed minks. But in September a more worrying “cluster 5” variant – less sensitive to an attack from Covid-19 antibodies – was found in 12 people in North Jutland. That area has been placed in lockdown.
Just eight had links to the fur farms, raising fears it has been transmitted through the population. SARS-COV-2 has now been found on mink farms in
Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and the US but it remains unclear whether it is the cluster 5 variant.
Other animals which have been infected with Covid-19 by humans include dogs, cats, lions and tigers.
Professor of virology Ian Jones, of the University of Reading, said: “The idea that the virus mutates in a new species is not surprising. The danger is that it could then spread back into man and evade any vaccine response designed for the original version.
“Of course the mink version may not transmit well to man but Denmark is clearly taking a precautionary stance in aiming to eradicate it.”