Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential link between the global fur trade and the spread of covid-19.

We are monitoring the situation carefully and are aware of the recent Covid-19 cases in mink. However, there is currently no evidence suggesting there being a link between the spread of Covid-19 and the global trade in fur. Farming for fur was banned in England and Wales in 2000 and in Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2002, and there are no mink farms in the UK. Therefore the risk to the UK population from these outbreaks in mink is negligible.

Nevertheless, we are keeping a close eye on the findings that mink can effectively maintain the virus which causes Covid-19.