The COVID-19 Variant On Minks In North Poland Apparently Can Infect Humans

Documentation - Officers inject the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac (Aditya Pradana Putra / Antara)

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 variant found in mink at a farm in Northern Poland can apparently infect humans.

The opposite is also true, as revealed by the Ministry of Health on Saturday, February 13 yesterday.

The COVID-19 in mink in the Kartuzy area was detected in late January. According to ministry officials, this is the first such case in Poland. That raises fears of a devastating cessation of an industry that records more than 350 farms in the country.

"The data obtained from the head of the sanitation inspectorate and last year's experience in Denmark and the Netherlands clearly show that in Poland, this virus can also spread from mink to humans and vice versa", the ministry said by Reuters via Antara, Sunday, February 14.

All herds of about 17 million minks in Denmark, one of the largest in the world, were ordered to be exterminated in early November after hundreds of farms reported an outbreak of the coronavirus and authorities found the virus variant mutated among the population.

Meanwhile, in August, the Netherlands decided to issue instructions to close more than 100 mink farms, after a number of employees were exposed to COVID-19.

Following the discovery of COVID-19 on the Kartuzy farm, Polish authorities said that all mink in the region would be culled.