The Danish Health Authority has announced that a patient with COVID-19 probably acquired the infection from a mink farm in North Jutland.  The diagnosis was confirmed by the Danish State Serum Institute (equivalent to NVSL).  Approximately 11,000 mink have been euthanized.

The Head of Crisis Management at the Danish Veterinary Food Administration announced that all mink farms will be subject to screening and appropriate responses will be developed including quarantine or depletion in the event of infection.  Denmark is the world’s largest supplier of mink pelts producing close to 20 million each year.

The outbreak in Denmark follows a series of at least five farms in Holland confirming the susceptibility of mink to SARS-COV-2 the causal virus of COVID-19.  Ferrets serve as a research model for COVID-19 and influenza and are closely related to mink.