African swine fever outbreak spreading widely in Vietnam
HANOI: An African swine fever outbreak is spreading widely
in Vietnam and is hurting the local farming industry, forcing the culling of
three times the number of hogs culled last year, the government said on
Thursday (Nov 25).
"The outbreak is evolving in a complicated
manner," the government said in a statement. "It is threatening to
spread on a large scale."
The outbreak has this year spread to 2,275 areas, in 57 out
of the country's 63 cities and provinces, the government said, adding that the
authorities have so far this year culled 230,000 hogs.
African swine fever is harmless to humans but often fatal to
pigs. It originated in Africa before spreading to Europe and Asia and has
killed hundreds of millions of pigs.
Vietnam reported its first African swine fever cases among
its hog herd in February 2019. The disease forced the culling of around 20 per
cent of its hog herd and doubled domestic price of pork as of early last year.
The outbreak subsided during the rest of last year and early
this year, allowing the country to rebuild its hog herd.
No comments