Wu Zhenglong, governor of Jiangsu, called for further efforts for prevention and control over African swine fever in the wake of a national video conference on the prevention and control over African swine fever that was held Thursday afternoon.
China has reported African swine fever outbreaks in many provinces, but the situation is generally under control, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
China has identified three new outbreaks of African swine fever in Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Yunnan since last August.
China confirmed the presence of African swine fever on August 3 after a number of pigs died in Shenyang, Liaoning province. It was the first time the virus, which had infected herds in Germany and Russia, had been found in China.
Three more cases of the virus were confirmed this month, with a report on Wednesday of 340 pigs killed and 430 others infected in Yueqing, Zhejiang province.
Four days earlier, 88 pigs were reported killed and 615 infected with the virus in Lianyungang in neighboring Jiangsu province.
In another case, a slaughterhouse controlled by Shuanghui Development, a subsidiary of the world’s largest pork meat processor WH Group, suspended operations after the virus was detected in dead pigs from Jiamusi in Heilongjiang province.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has mobilized inspectors from Heilongjiang in the north to Guangdong in the south. Local authorities in these cases have initiated an emergency response mechanism to block, cull and disinfect the affected pigs.
When African swine fever was spotted in Liaoning in early August, the provincial authority started carrying out checks of all pigs in the province. By August 15, the province’s animal health authority said it had inspected 355,400 pigs, taking 10,791 suspect samples for additional assessment. In all, 22 samples, all from Shenyang, tested positive for the virus, the authorities said.
In cities and provinces where no African swine fever was reported, animal health authorities are also on high alert. Guangdong held a three-day meeting and training course for 120 local officials, telling them how to prevent the virus.
In the latest development, authorities in Tongling city, Anhui province, had quarantine lifted last tuesday in the wake of an African swine fever outbreak last month.
As the country intensified prevention and control of the disease since the first outbreak was discovered in August, all the outbreaks have been effectively addressed and quarantine has been lifted in 12 affected regions, the ministry said on its website last Wednesday.
African swine fever is a highly contagious, viral disease that infects pigs. It does not affect humans or other animal species.
More than 4,000 cases of the disease have been reported in 14 other countries this year, and the massive outbreaks in neighboring countries pose a great risk of the disease crossing into China.
No new case has been found during the past six weeks, with immediate actions taken to block, cull and disinfect the affected pigs after the outbreak.
