Lithuania finds coronavirus in minks at one farm

Lithuanian authorities have detected novel coronavirus in minks at a farm in the central part of the Baltic EU state, officials say.

The Baltic state’s veterinary agency says that one person who works in the farm also tested positive for coronavirus.

“The results show that a farm worker could have transmitted the virus SARS-CoV-2 to mink,” agency chief Darius Remeika says in a statement.

The veterinary service says that dozens of minks will be culled but no mass cull is planned for now.

Lithuania has 86 mink farms with a total of around 1.6 million minks.

Minks look out of a cage at a fur farm in the village of Litusovo, northeast of Minsk, Belarus, December 6, 2012. (AP/Sergei Grits)

It started testing mink farms earlier this month after coronavirus cases in minks were reported in other European countries.

Denmark has already killed around two-thirds of its stocks of 15 to 17 million minks while Ireland also says it is planning a nationwide cull over similar virus-related fears.

There have also been positive cases at mink farms in Poland.

— AFP