China’s exotic farms may be a missing link behind the pandemic’s leap to people

‘Given that more than a year passed between late 2019, when the disease was linked to the market, and December 2020, when China says it shut down all its food-supplying wildlife farms, acquiring such evidence may prove impossible. Still, filling in gaps about how the virus may have leaped to humans is essential for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic and combating future zoonotic diseases.

‘Yunnan, the southern Chinese province where many of the now-shuttered wildlife farms are located, is also where virologists found a bat virus almost identical to the coronavirus circulating in humans. Some wildlife farms sold animals that can be infected with other coronaviruses, including civets, so scientists suspect that these species may also be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. “Potentially, some of these animals were infected at those farms and then brought the virus into the market,” Peter Ben Embarek, the Danish food safety scientist heading WHO’s delegation, told Science in February, after he and the WHO team returned from China, adding that more testing was needed.’

Read here (National Geographic, Mar 25, 2021)

Denmark to cull millions of minks over mutated coronavirus

‘Denmark, the world's biggest producer of mink fur, said Wednesday it would cull all of the country's minks after a mutated version of the new coronavirus was detected at its mink farms and had spread to people. The mutation "could pose a risk that future (coronavirus) vaccines won't work the way they should," Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a press conference, adding: "It is necessary to cull all the minks."

“The mutated virus could thereby have serious negative consequences for the whole world’s response to the ongoing pandemic,” she said. Danish police estimated that between 15 and 17 million minks would need to be put down. Twelve people are currently registered as infected with a mutated form of the coronavirus in Denmark, according to news wire Ritzau. The mutated virus is reported to respond weakly to antibodies.’

Read here (The Local, Denmark, Nov 4, 2020)