COPENHAGEN, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A third mink herd has been found to be infected with COVID-19, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) said in a press release on Wednesday.
The animals came under scrutiny after people connected to the mink farm, in Hjorring municipality of North Jutland, 356 km northwest of Copenhagen, reported to DVFA that they had become infected with COVID-19.
Following a massive round of testing of the animals on Monday, more than half of the 10,000-strong mink herd were discovered to be infected with the virus.
"It is against this background that the government has decided that this third infected herd must also be killed on the basis of a precautionary principle," said the press release.
In recent weeks, two other mink farms in the same area have seen 11,000 mink killed because of the infection, and a dog of a mink farm owner tested positive and became the first pet in Denmark infected with the coronavirus.
However, it is not yet clear whether the third infected farm is infected with the same virus strain from the other farms.
The DVFA is currently screening 120 mink herds for COVID-19 across Denmark to see if there is "a more widespread infection in the mink herds," noted Mogens Jensen, Minister for Food, Fisheries and Equal Opportunities and Minister for Nordic Cooperation, last week.
However, "none of the three infected herds were among the 120 mink farms included in a national screening for COVID-19," said the press release.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Denmark stands at 12,794 and the daily death count increased by one to 606, according to the update from the Statens Serum Institut on Wednesday. Enditem
