China on alert for African swine fever virus but will it hit its pig industry?
Analyst says reporting of outbreaks shows major gains from similar crisis more than a decade ago
Agricultural officers across China have been ordered to control the spread of African swine fever in the world’s biggest pig-farming country amid fears that it could deal a heavy blow to the industry.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has mobilised inspectors from Heilongjiang in the north to Guangdong in the south.
The virus, which does not affect humans but is lethal to pigs, has been detected in four provinces in China in the last month.
But one industry analyst said the detailed reporting of the spread signalled a marked improvement in disease control from an outbreak of another swine virus about a decade ago.
China confirmed the presence of African swine fever on August 3 after a number of pigs died in Shenyang, Liaoning province. It was the first time the virus, which had infected herds in Germany and Russia, had been found in China.
Three more cases of the virus were confirmed this month, with a report on Wednesday of 340 pigs killed and 430 others infected in Yueqing, Zhejiang province. Four days earlier, 88 pigs were reported killed and 615 infected with the virus in Lianyungang in neighbouring Jiangsu province.
