Worker infected by mink at Dutch fur farm

DUTCH authorities will introduce mandatory coronavirus testing on all mink farms after Carola Schouten, the agriculture minister, confirmed that a worker contracted the virus from one of the animals.

Screening mink antibodies will be mandatory in “the interest of the health of employees,” the Dutch government said in a statement.

The infected employee caught a particular strain of the virus that has been circulating in minks.

Outbreaks of Covid-19 have been reported on mink farms in the Netherlands since April, after keepers noticed that some animals were suffering from breathing difficulties.

In the two farms where the initial outbreak occurred, 2.4 per cent of mink died in one and 1.2 per cent died in the other within two weeks.

Ms Schouten wrote a letter to the Dutch parliament in which she admitted that earlier advice claiming the animals could not infect humans was wrong.

But she said the position of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment remained that the chances of transmission outside of the animals’ stalls was “minimal”.

“On the basis of results from the ongoing research into Covid-19 infections at mink farms, it is plausible that an infection took place from mink to human,” the Dutch government said.

“It also appears from this research that minks can have Covid-19 without displaying symptoms.”

It is also thought that cats are playing a role in transmitting the virus between farms. Research shows that the strain of virus present in mink at two different farms is very similar.

At one of these farms, Covid-19 was detected in three of the 11 cats living there.

Mink are farmed in the Netherlands for their soft pelts and their fur is sold to countries such as China, Greece and Turkey.

The practice was banned by the Dutch government in 2013 following pressure from animal rights groups, with existing farms being forced to close by 2024.

‘It appears from ongoing research that minks can have Covid-19 without displaying symptoms’