Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to reports of transmission of COVID-19 between minks and humans in Denmark, what steps they are taking to reduce the human and animal health risks posed by mink and other fur farming.

Fur farming including mink and other animal fur has been banned in the United Kingdom since 2000.

There are an estimated 120,000 wild mink in Great Britain, that established in the wild following escapes/releases from fur farms in the early twentieth century. As wild mink generally avoids human contact, there is very limited risk of direct contact with mink for the public. Individuals responsible for care of wild or rescued mink are being provided advice by Natural England on practices to reduce infection.