COPENHAGEN, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Minks at a farm in northern Jutland in Denmark were identified as infected with COVID-19 over the weekend and the entire herd will have to be culled, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) said in a press release on Wednesday.
Samples from 34 minks have shown that the animals were infected with the novel coronavirus, said the DVFA.
The analyses were performed after a person associated with the mink farm had previously been tested positive for COVID-19.
"For the first time we have detected coronavirus on a mink farm in Denmark, " Danish Food Minister Mogens Jensen wrote in a comment quoted by the Danish news agency Ritzau.
"As this is the first time that coronavirus infection has been found in a Danish mink herd, the government has decided, as a precautionary principle, that the infected mink herd must be killed, in order to minimize the risk of possible spread of infection during the ongoing clarification phase," said the DVFA.
Since the discovery, a testing strategy has been drawn up to determine if there are other mink herds in the area that are also infected, according to the DVFA.
Meanwhile, the DVFA is in close contact with both the Statens Serum Institute and the Danish Patient Safety Authority to assess situation and draw up a plan of action.
"When there was a suspicion of infection among the minks over the weekend, we placed immediate restrictions on the mink farm," said Nikolas Kuhn Hove, head of crisis management of the DVFA.
No new COVID-19-related death has been recorded across the country. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases stands at 12,294 with 598 deaths, the daily update from the Statens Serum Institute showed Wednesday. Enditem
