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The World Health Organisation has listed six countries that have reported new cases of coronavirus that are linked to mink farms. These nations include Denmark, United States of America, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, a WHO statement said, AFP reported.
As many as 1.7 crore minks will be culled in Denmark after a mutated form of coronavirus was found on the animal's farms. As reported by the Times of India, 214 people have been said to have infected mutated coronavirus strain that has been linked to minks in Denmark.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen earlier this week told reporters that a mutated strain of the coronavirus was detected at mink farms in the North Jutland region, reported Hindustan Times.
Danish police and army personnel will help to carry out the mass cull in more than 1,000 farms.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had earlier said that it was was monitoring the mutation and that it was too early to tell if it posed any risk to humans or would undo the impact of a potential vaccine.
Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program said that the evidence that they have doesn't suggest that this variant is in any way different than the way it behaves.
However Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said that the step has been taken to protect unaffected minks.
“We would rather go a step too far than take a step too little to combat Covid-19,” he said, adding that the Scandinavian country had neither “overreacted nor taken the decision lightly.”
(With inputs from Times of India, Hindustan Times, AFP)
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