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15/05/2019 - 09:22

African swine fever occurs in 29 cities and provinces

On May 13, Deputy Prime Minister - Trinh Dinh Dung chaired a national online conference to prevent and control African swine fever (ASF). Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Pham Van Canh chaired at Long An end-point bridge.

 Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Pham Van Canh chairs at Long An end-point bridge

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, until now, ASF has occurred in 2,296 communes of 29 cities and provinces in the whole the country. Over 1.2 million pigs have been destroyed, accounting for 4 percent of Vietnam's farmed pigs. In 29 communes of 12 provinces and cities, the virus returned after 30 days.

Although the Government, the Prime Minister, the National Steering Committee and the ministries and agencies regularly check and guide epidemic prevention, the implementation faces many difficulties.

Accordingly, the monitoring and publication of epidemic has not been timely. The destruction of sick and dead pigs has not yet completed. The hygiene in animal husbandry, the control of slaughtering together with the implement of disease-free areas have not been focused. Moreover, there is no vaccine for the ASF virus, so it is difficult to control the epidemic, said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

Long An always focuses on preventing epidemic

ASF has not yet occurred in Long An but the province always focuses on preventing epidemic. At present, the import and slaughter of pigs in the province is very high. In the last 2 months, the number of pigs imported from outside to slaughter in the province was over 184,000. In which, more than 110,000 pigs were imported from 15 provinces where epidemics occurred, accounting for over 60% of the total pigs imported into the province. Therefore, the risk of disease outbreak is very high. 

The prevention of epidemics is still difficult, especially in border areas. Therefore, Deputy Prime Minister - Trinh Dinh Dung asked ministries, branches and Steering Committee to focus on international cooperation and strengthen the prevention of epidemic according to the Government’s Resolution 16, Prime Minister's Directive 04 and other important documents.

At the same time, local authorities have to inspect slaughterhouses, strictly handle illegal smuggling of pigs, actively propagate on biosecurity measures. Last but not least, it is necessary to improve capacity of veterinary staffs at all levels to prevent epidemic effectively./.

By Huynh Phong - Translated by Pham Ngan

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