Foreign lorry drivers WILL be turned back from the UK border if they have recently travelled through Denmark amid widespread Covid outbreaks on Danish mink farms
- ‘Mutation’ of Covid-19 at mink farms poses ‘risk to the effectiveness’ of a vaccine
- Scientists fear it could be a ‘new pandemic starting again, this time in Denmark’
- Lorries arriving from the Scandinavian country will be turned away from today
Foreign lorry drivers who have recently travelled through Denmark will be turned back from the UK border after widespread Covid-19 outbreaks at mink farms in the country.
Since 4am this morning, only UK citizens have been allowed to return from Denmark, with any other visitors, or freight arrivals, being refused entry.
Brits arriving from the country will have to self-isolate for two weeks.
The Danish Government has ordered a cull of 17million mink after a warning that a mutation of the virus – which is less sensitive to an attack from Covid-19 antibodies – had jumped from minks to humans and infected 12 people.
Coronavirus has spread from minks to humans in hundreds of cases – but the mutant strain is restricted to just 12 infections. Scientists fear this small number could the beginning of ‘a new pandemic starting again, this time from Denmark.’
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said it could pose a ‘risk to the effectiveness’ of a much-anticipated future Covid-19 vaccine as the antibodies provided by the jab may not be effective enough.
Danish authorities have ordered the culling of 17million mink after they were linked to a mutation of Covid-19 which poses a ‘risk to the effectiveness,’ of a long-awaited vaccine
Six countries have now reported coronavirus cases linked to mink farms after a Covid mutation spreading from the animals to humans was found in Denmark
Anyone who is allowed to enter Britain and has travelled to Denmark must isolate for 14 days, along with members of their household.
Home Secretary Priti Patel explained yesterday: ‘In order to respond quickly and decisively to the latest coronavirus developments, visitors from Denmark arriving into the UK will not be permitted entry.
‘British Nationals, visa holders and permanent residents who have travelled to Denmark in the last 14 days will need to self-isolate along with their household.’
The Department for Transport has confirmed lorries that have recently passed through Denmark will be turned away from British ports such as Dover, pictured above
Explaining the decision to turn hauliers back, the Department for Transport said: ‘The move follows the release of further information from health authorities in Denmark reporting widespread outbreaks of coronavirus (Covid-19) in mink farms, with a variant strain of the virus spreading to some local communities.’
The travel ban and extra requirements will be reviewed after a week, the department added.
Denmark is the world’s largest mink fur exporter and produces an estimated 17 million furs per year.
In a shock sign of how feared this mutant Covid strain is, all cabin crew and pilots onboard British Airways and Ryanair flights arriving from Denmark in the UK have been instructed quarantine for 14 days after landing – along with their families.
Previously, airline workers were exempt from any mandatory quarantine. The new restrictions mean staff members’ children must stay home from school for two weeks as well.
Denmark first learned a strain of coronavirus had crossed over from mink in June after an outbreak at a care home.
Five different strains of mutant mink coronavirus have been discovered in 214 people in Denmark since then.
But only one of these strains – known as Cluster 5 – is less sensitive to antibodies, Denmark’s State Serum Institute revealed.
Denmark’s top epidemiologist told the Financial Times: ‘The worst-case scenario is a new pandemic starting again, this time from Denmark.’
Aarhus University professor and veterinary ecotoxicology expert Christian Sonne said the family of carnivorous mammals mutelids – which includes minks and ferrets – were ‘ticking bombs’. They seem to be more at risk of coronavirus than other creatures.
Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead for Covid-19, said that transmission of the virus between animals and humans was ‘a concern’, but added: ‘Mutations (in viruses) are normal.
‘These type of changes in the virus are something we have been tracking since the beginning.’
Soumya Swaminathan – the WHO’s chief scientist – said on Friday that it is too early to jump to conclusions.
She said: ‘We need to wait and see what the implications are but I don’t think we should come to any conclusions about whether this particular mutation is going to impact vaccine efficacy. We don’t have any evidence at the moment that it would.’