African swine fever (ASF) has continued to spread nationwide, with ASF outbreaks detected in 19 localities as of March 18, noted Le Trung Hoang, deputy head of Can Tho’s animal health agency.

Farmers transport a pig in the Mekong Delta

According to a report by the agency, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from February 1 to March 3, outbreaks of the disease were detected in 14 districts of the cities and provinces of Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Haiphong, Thanh Hoa, Hanoi, Ha Nam and Hai Duong, with more than 4,200 pigs being culled.

Besides these localities, new ASF outbreaks have been discovered in Dien Bien, Hoa Binh, Thai Nguyen, Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, Nam Dinh, Lang Son, Bac Kan, Son La, Nghe An, Bac Ninh and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, Hoang stated at a conference titled “Adopting urgent solutions to prevent and control ASF and other diseases in animals,” held today, March 19, in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

At least 27,000 infected pigs across 253 communes of 57 districts have been culled, Hoang noted, adding that the disease might spread even further.

Due to the complicated developments of the disease, Hoang proposed the State management agencies issue regulations to temporarily ban the transport of pigs and pork from localities reporting ASF outbreaks to southern cities and provinces.

Many localities have set up animal quarantine teams and built checkpoints to oversee the transportation of pigs.

At a teleconference titled “Deploying urgent measures to contain ASF,” held on March 4, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that chairpersons of the municipal and provincial People’s Committees must assume responsibility for the prevention and control of the disease in their localities.

Moreover, the Ministry of Finance must promptly instruct the provinces and cities to earmark fees to fund disease prevention and combat activities, while the Ministry of Information and Communications was assigned to ensure that information on the disease does not affect the local livestock sector.

Besides this, the Ministry of Transport was tasked with preventing traders and firms from shipping pigs and pork products from northern Vietnam, especially in disease-hit areas, to the southern region.

The prime minister also asked pig farmers not to hide outbreaks or sell, slaughter, consume or discard sick or dead pigs.

SGT