The northern province of Nam Dinh has become the latest locality in Vietnam hit by African swine fever (ASF) according to local authorities.

Pigs are destroyed at a farm hit by African swine fever in Nam Dinh Province on March 10

The Nam Dinh Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development announced on March 10 that they have just detected the fever at a local farm with 80 pigs.

"We had destroyed all the pigs," said head of the local Animal Health Department, Ninh Van Hieu. "Alerts have also been announced to all pig farmers in the area."

Hieu added that there are 756,000 pigs raised at about 900 household farms in the province.

On March 9, Vietnam's Department of Animal Health said the animal epidemic has been reported in 12 localities including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Thai Binh, Ha Nam, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Dien Bien, Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh, killing and leading to culling of 11,500 pigs.

ASF has affected 21 countries so far, and there is no approved vaccine against the disease, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

ASF is a severe viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs which can be spread by live or dead pig and pork products, the organisation said, noting that the ASF virus is harmless to humans, but causes haemorrhagic fever in pigs and wild boars that is almost fatal.

Dtinews