The virus mutations that have developed in infected mink in the North Jutland Danish region may risk ruining the work of developing a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Statens Serum Institut confirms this after it criticism emerged against the authorities currently cracking down and killing both sick and healthy mink animals.

The minks in North Jutland are infected with a special variation of COVID-19, and the same mutation has been found in infected people in the area, says chief physician Anders Fomsgaard, responsible for virus research and development at the Statens Serum Institut.

"The concern is that viruses mutated in these mink spread in the community and infect people with a virus strain that is insensitive to the vaccines that are being developed," he says.