Self-isolation ordered after trips to Denmark in effort to stem ‘mink virus’
Hospitals warned to be on alert for suspected cases to prevent mutant strain spreading in UK
HEALTH officials are scrambling to contact anyone who returned from Denmark in the past fortnight amid fears that the “mink virus” could spread within this country.
Public Health England said it has been attempting to phone or email those who returned recently, in an effort to ensure compliance with rules to self-isolate.
Denmark has detected mink-related strands of coronavirus in 214 people since June, including 12 cases with a unique variant.
Over the weekend, every hospital in the country was ordered to isolate suspected “mink virus” patients amid increasing efforts to prevent a mutant strain of coronavirus from spreading to Britain.
Prof Jonathan Van-tam, the deputy chief medical officer, has told doctors, nurses and GPS to take “immediate action” against a new strain of the virus.
In the NHS alert, seen by The Daily Telegraph, hospitals and GPS are warned that the new virus strain appears to show “less sensitivity for neutralising antibodies” and therefore greater resistance to a vaccine.
Hospitals have been told that any coronavirus patients who recently travelled to Denmark must be isolated, treated in specialist centres and gene tested for the new strain.
The measures are similar to those taken in early March, when the Government tried to prevent Covid from spreading into the UK from China and mainland Europe.
Over the weekend, the UK banned entry to all non-resident foreigners coming from Denmark, while UK citizens, along with their household, must isolate for 14 days. Passenger planes, ships and lorries carrying freight from Denmark will also not be allowed across the border, it was announced on Sunday, threatening the UK’S supplies of pork and bacon.
Officials estimate that between 300 and 500 people have arrived in the UK from Denmark in the past 14 days. Yesterday health officials said the majority had been contacted, with efforts continuing to phone or email the remainder.
Prof Ian Jones, a virologist from Reading University, said one of the biggest concerns is that the new variant may not respond to a new vaccine.
He said the “bogeyman scenario of a Covid-19 two … spreading even as a vaccine is rolled out” explained the culling of the mink population, and measures aimed at preventing the spread of the strain in the UK.
Vets in Denmark have began gassing and burning 17 million mink in a bid to halt further spread of the mutation. New coronavirus cases linked to mink farms have been discovered in six countries including Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, the World Health Organisation has said. Mink farming in Britain ended in the early 2000s, although there are thought to be around 112,000 of the animals in the wild.
Fiona Mathews, the chairman of the Mammal Society and professor of environmental biology at Sussex University, fears the virus might already be spreading in the UK’S mink population.
“There’s a chance it might have jumped to cousins of the mink, like otters,” she said. “We know the virus came from animals, so it would be foolish not to look at whether it is already here. And, of course, there’s a small chance that it might pose a risk to humans.”
Yesterday Downing Street said there is no evidence to suggest that the strain is in the UK.