Virus World

Agriculture minister says origins of outbreak unclear after seven farm workers – and 87% of the mink – test positive. Spain has ordered the culling of nearly 100,000 mink on a farm after confirming many were carrying coronavirus, a regional minister said on Thursday. Joaquin Olona, agriculture minister for the north-eastern Aragon region, said the cull would involve the slaughter of 92,700 mink which are prized for their pelt.

 

Officials suspect the virus first reached the farm through a worker who passed it on to the animals. But Olona said it was not completely clear if “transmission was possible from animals to humans and vice versa”. In the Netherlands tens of thousands of mink have been slaughtered since the start of the pandemic after 20 farms were found to be infected, the Dutch authorities said earlier this month. The move came after at least two farm workers were found to be infected in May, most likely by the mink, with the World Health Organization saying it could be the first known cases of animal-to-human transmission.

 

In Spain the mink farm – in Puebla de Valverde, about 100km (60 miles) north-west of the coastal resort of Valencia – has been carefully monitored since 22 May after seven workers tested positive for Covid-19, Olona said. Since then no animals have left the property, which is the only mink farm in Aragon. Officials have since carried out a string of PCR tests which on 13 July showed that 87% of the mink were infected, prompting the decision to carry out a cull “to avoid the risk of human transmission”, Olona said....