为避免环境污染，丹麦掘地重挖400万只水貂尸体
丹麦政府计划重新挖出水貂尸体进行火化。早前，为了防止新冠病毒病变，丹麦政府大规模扑杀养殖貂超逾千万只。如今这些腐烂的貂尸正在引发新的污染风险。
挖掘工作将于明年五月开始实行，届时将会挖出400万只水貂尸体。这6个月的等待期是为了确保尸体届时已经不带病毒，能被安全处理。一旦出土，貂尸便会被当作企业垃圾焚烧。卫生部门表示，将动物掩埋在地下不会马上对湖泊、河流和饮用水构成污染风险。
丹麦“水貂事件”近期来几番发酵，曾一度迫使丹麦内阁大臣为此辞职，同时也大大减损了丹麦在各国民众心中“最佳防疫国”的地位。
据有关消息披露，丹麦首相梅特•弗雷德里克森最初并未获得全面猎杀法律授权，对此，弗雷德里克森本人也几度进行公开自我辩护。与此同时，该事件亦激起了丹麦议会及水貂产业界内的严厉批评，而就在几个月前，丹麦的水貂产业还位居全球之首。
然而，弗雷德里克森反复强调她的决定从始至终都是对的。根据丹曼流行病学家的警告，动物是新冠病毒最快、最高效的传播途径。弗雷德里克森援引流行病学家观点指出，水貂体内的变异病毒可能会阻碍下一步的疫苗接种工作。
水貂的隐患
事实上，在水貂身上检测出冠状病毒毒株的国家除了丹麦，还有意大利、西班牙、荷兰、瑞典和美国等过，但目前为止尚且没有一国像丹麦一样激进。
世界卫生组织（WHO）在今年11月初表示，发现于丹曼的病毒毒株凸显出了“SARS-CoV-2在养殖水貂身上的传播风险，为规避感染，必须实施强而有力的检测、采样及测序，尤其是在特定动物宿主生活的密集区域。”
世卫组织随后建议所有国家加强新冠病毒在“人畜传播”途径中的监测力度，提高水貂养殖场等易感动物传染源范围内的警备等级。
本周一，继英国发现变异病以来，丹麦同欧洲别国一起对其实施起了48小时入境禁令。据丹麦卫生局消息，该国已发现9例英国变异毒株。（财富中文网）
编译:陈怡轩
丹麦政府计划重新挖出水貂尸体进行火化。早前，为了防止新冠病毒病变，丹麦政府大规模扑杀养殖貂超逾千万只。如今这些腐烂的貂尸正在引发新的污染风险。
挖掘工作将于明年五月开始实行，届时将会挖出400万只水貂尸体。这6个月的等待期是为了确保尸体届时已经不带病毒，能被安全处理。一旦出土，貂尸便会被当作企业垃圾焚烧。卫生部门表示，将动物掩埋在地下不会马上对湖泊、河流和饮用水构成污染风险。
丹麦“水貂事件”近期来几番发酵，曾一度迫使丹麦内阁大臣为此辞职，同时也大大减损了丹麦在各国民众心中“最佳防疫国”的地位。
据有关消息披露，丹麦首相梅特•弗雷德里克森最初并未获得全面猎杀法律授权，对此，弗雷德里克森本人也几度进行公开自我辩护。与此同时，该事件亦激起了丹麦议会及水貂产业界内的严厉批评，而就在几个月前，丹麦的水貂产业还位居全球之首。
然而，弗雷德里克森反复强调她的决定从始至终都是对的。根据丹曼流行病学家的警告，动物是新冠病毒最快、最高效的传播途径。弗雷德里克森援引流行病学家观点指出，水貂体内的变异病毒可能会阻碍下一步的疫苗接种工作。
水貂的隐患
事实上，在水貂身上检测出冠状病毒毒株的国家除了丹麦，还有意大利、西班牙、荷兰、瑞典和美国等过，但目前为止尚且没有一国像丹麦一样激进。
世界卫生组织（WHO）在今年11月初表示，发现于丹曼的病毒毒株凸显出了“SARS-CoV-2在养殖水貂身上的传播风险，为规避感染，必须实施强而有力的检测、采样及测序，尤其是在特定动物宿主生活的密集区域。”
世卫组织随后建议所有国家加强新冠病毒在“人畜传播”途径中的监测力度，提高水貂养殖场等易感动物传染源范围内的警备等级。
本周一，继英国发现变异病以来，丹麦同欧洲别国一起对其实施起了48小时入境禁令。据丹麦卫生局消息，该国已发现9例英国变异毒株。（财富中文网）
编译:陈怡轩
Denmark will dig up millions of dead mink after a hasty cull and burial intended to stamp out a coronavirus mutation ended with the rotting carcasses triggering a new contamination risk.
The exhumation of about 4 million mink will take place in May, with a six-month waiting period deemed sufficient to ensure the bodies will be free of the virus and safe to handle. Once dug up, the mink will be incinerated as corporate waste. Health authorities said keeping the animals buried poses “no immediate pollution risk in regards to lakes, streams as well as drinking water.”
The government is trying to bring to a close a chapter that forced a Cabinet minister to resign and ended Denmark’s reputation as a country that had fought off the pandemic more ably than most.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has had to defend her role in the debacle, after it emerged she didn’t initially have the legal mandate to demand a full cull of Denmark’s roughly 15.4 million mink. The rushed and messy process that followed drew harsh criticism from parliament and the country’s mink industry, which just a few months ago had been the world’s largest.
But Frederiksen has repeated her initial warning that her government’s decision to demand that all Danish mink be culled was appropriate. The country’s top epidemiologist warned at the time that the animals were highly efficient at spreading the coronavirus, and Frederiksen said Danish scientists were worried that the mutation found in the country’s mink could derail vaccine efforts.
The Mink Risk
There are a number of other countries that produce mink and that have detected coronavirus strains in the animals, namely Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.S. None has so far taken the same drastic steps as Denmark.
In early November, the World Health Organization said the coronavirus mutation found in Denmark “highlights the important role that farmed mink populations can play in the ongoing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the critical role of strong surveillance, sampling and sequencing SARS-CoV-2, especially around areas where such animal reservoirs are identified.”
The organization said then it advises “all countries to enhance surveillance for Covid-19 at the animal-human interface where susceptible animal reservoirs are identified, including mink farms.”
In a separate development, Denmark on Monday joined other European countries in imposing a 48-hour ban on arrivals from the U.K., where a rapidly-spreading mutation of the virus has been detected among humans. Danish health authorities say nine cases of Britain’s mutated strain have been recorded in Denmark.
