Russia will protectively vaccinate its mink population against Covid-19 after other countries identified cases of the virus in the animals, the acting head of a big Russian state fur company has told a TV station run by the defence ministry.
Ivan Nesterov, acting head of state fur company Russian Sable, made the comments to the Zvezda TV station on Monday. When reached on Tuesday, he redirected questions to the agriculture ministry, saying it was better if they provided official comments.
In a recording of his interview to Zvezda, he can be heard saying that authorities are testing the vaccine and plan to vaccinate the mink population once the process is finished.
He said the measure was a precautionary one and that Russia had no scientific confirmation that the virus could be passed from minks to humans, and had not detected the virus in Russian minks.
Polish mink
Meanwhile, Polish scientists have identified the first cases of Covid-19 in mink at a farm in the north of the country, the Medical University of Gdansk said on Tuesday.
Poland, a major producer of mink fur, started coronavirus tests among its farmed mink and checks on workers this month after a mutated virus was found in farmed mink in Denmark, leading to a nationwide cull there.
No coronavirus cases among mink had previously been discovered in Poland.
Veterinary and sanitary authorities said last week that 18 coronavirus cases had been identified among mink farm workers since the start of the pandemic, but it was unlikely that they were infected by the animals.
The conclusion is one - for sure SARS-CoV-2 is among the mink population in Poland
The University of Gdansk said in a statement that scientists tested 91 mink for coronavirus and eight turned out positive.
"The conclusion is one - for sure SARS-CoV-2 is among the mink population in Poland," said university parasitologist Maciej Grzybek, one of two scientists who tested the mink.
"We took 91 samples and this does not represent the whole situation, and for sure far more animals have to be tested to learn about the real scale of the problem."
Mr Grzybek said they would test more mink in the region, with results expected within a week or two.
The agriculture ministry and sanitary and veterinary authorities were not immediately available for comment.
Veterinary authorities said earlier this month they had ordered tests in 18 farms in four administrative regions of the country. The northern region was not among them.
Industry groups objected strongly to the tests, fearing they could lead to a nationwide cull.
