More than 30 wild boar in South Korea have also been reported over the past week as testing positive for the ASF virus.
African swine fever (ASF) has returned for the first time this year to the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu and Shaanxi, and a further outbreak has been confirmed in Gansu.
As in previous recent cases of ASF reported in China, illegal pig movements and/or the introduction of new animals are being blamed for the return of the disease to two provinces.
Latest to be affected are Shaanxi — where the virus was detected in December 2019 — and in Jiangsu, which has been free of the disease for more than one year.
According to the official report from China’s agriculture ministry to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Shaanxi outbreak has occurred in a backyard herd in the village of Pipagou. Of the 49 animals, 39 died and the rest have been destroyed.
The latest outbreak in the east-central coastal province of Jiangsu was in Shuyang county, which is in Suqian city prefecture. Among a group of 17 animals, eight tested positive for the ASF virus. They were being transported without authorization, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Three of the animals died, and the rest have been destroyed.
In Gansu province, a checkpoint at Liuyuan in Juiquan city prefecture revealed three dead pigs out of a group of 320 animals this month. The pigs tested positive for the ASF virus, and all were destroyed.
This is the third ASF outbreak in Gansu this year. At the end of March, two groups of pigs — one stopped at a highway checkpoint and one village herd — in Longnan prefecture tested positive for the virus.
China has also reported ASF outbreaks in Chongqing, Inner Mongolia and Sichuan province this month.
South Korea reports 33 more wild boar with ASF
During the past week, South Korea’s agriculture ministry has reported to the OIE that 33 more wild boar have tested positive for the ASF virus.
All were found in the northern border provinces of Gyeonggi and Gangwon. The highest number of cases were in the counties of Yeoncheon and Hwacheon, where many cases among the wild boar population have previously been confirmed. One animal was also found in each of the Paju city region, and Goseong county.
Based on the OIE reports, the total number of wild boar that have tested positive for the ASF virus may have reached 529. The country’s first cases of the disease were reported in September 2019. No cases in domestic pigs have been detected since October 2019.
Shortage of pork forecast in the Philippines
Provinces of the Philippines so far unaffected by ASF are over-supplied with pork, according to Agriculture Secretary William Dar. However, Business World reports that a shortage of the meat may occur across the country by the end of this year. This warning came from the National Meat Inspection Service. It estimates that the 21% contraction in the national pig herd will create a pork shortfall of 121,000 metric tons.
Dar said various interventions are being implemented to ramp up pork production, as well as the cultivation of crops for animal feeds.
View our continuing coverage of the global African swine fever situation.
