News release | 16-08-2020 | 4:00 pm
In De Mortel (municipality of Gemert-Bakel), contamination with SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in mink. It is a mink farm with approximately 700 mother animals. The contamination had come to light by means of the early warning monitoring system in which cadavers are tested weekly for the virus. An infection with SARS-CoV-2 has also been established in Ottersum (municipality of Gennep). It is a mink farm with approximately 8,000 mother animals. This contamination has come to light through a report of symptoms in the mink. Both companies will be cleared as soon as possible.
A total of 33 mink farms in the Netherlands have now been declared infected. All infected farms are cleared.
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Measures
Ministers Hugo de Jonge of Health, Welfare and Sport and Carola Schouten of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, together with the fur farming sector and experts, have tightened the hygiene protocol since 10 July. There is also a national transport ban and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is conducting more in-depth research into possible contamination routes.
In addition, the OMT-Z – at the request of ministers De Jonge and Schouten – previously issued advice on the situation at mink farms on 17 July. The risk of mink farms to public health was unchanged at the time, according to OMT-Z. Companies must strictly adhere to the stricter measures to prevent the introduction of the virus. This concerns the obligation to register visitors, to apply hygiene measures (such as wearing personal protective equipment) and to follow up the testing regime for carers with COVID-19 complaints. The policy on testing employees on mink farms will also be further elaborated in collaboration with the Municipal Health Service (GGD).
Follow-up advice OMT-Z
In the advice of July 17, it spoke OMT-Z the expectation that the reduced number of contact moments between people and mink after the intensive activities were completed in July, and the recent tightening of the hygiene protocol and the preventive use of personal protective equipment on non-contaminated farms, would increase the risk of decrease. The OMT-Z expected that an estimated 6-12 companies could be found positive in the 3-4 weeks after July 17. It takes a while to assess the effect after full implementation of these measures. With the new confirmed infections, there are now eight.
If there were still new infections among mink farms after mid-August, the OMT-Z advised to eliminate mink farms preventively, provided that the situation with the spread of the virus among humans would be comparable to mid-July when the number of identified infections among humans was low . The OMT-Z also stated that if the situation with the spread of the virus among people in the Netherlands would change, this would have to be reconsidered. The cabinet has taken this advice as a starting point, and is now awaiting an OMT-Z follow-up advice to further discuss the risk assessment and appropriate effective measures in the light of public health.
Stops the Regeling
In the meantime, central government is also working on a stop-stopping scheme that allows mink companies to voluntarily end their business operations in the short term. In 2024, mink farms will stop their activities anyway, in accordance with the legal prohibition.
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