Latest ASF inspection on Taichung pig farm scheduled for Monday

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said on Saturday that it plans a further inspection on Monday of a pig farm located in Wuqi District, Taichung, central Taiwan, where African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Oct. 25.

● African swine fever breakout contained: agriculture ministry

Speaking at a news conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) said following the removal of miscellaneous articles from the pig farm and other ongoing cleaning work, the military sent a team comprised of 80 soldiers and 35 chemical unit personnel to clean the site Friday, with operations continuing until early Saturday morning.

Tu said an inspection will be conducted Monday, adding if the site tests negative for African swine fever, another inspection will be carried out seven days later. If the tests remain positive, additional disinfection work will be undertaken.

With the exception of the affected site in Wuqi, other pig farms around Taiwan have so far received a clean bill of health with no strains of African swine fever found, Tu said, adding that the government's African Swine Fever Forward Command Center aims not only to contain the virus at the Wuqi site, but more importantly to prevent it from spreading to other places in a bid to protect the country's pig farming industry.

Before cleaning work on Friday, Wuqi pig farm tested positive for African swine fever even after two rounds of disinfection.

Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said at the news conference that previous inspections at Wuqi pig farm still detected the virus's DNA, so the latest disinfection work, which began Friday, included the participation of military personnel from chemical units.

Currently, the infection at Wuqi farm has been contained and inspections of the pig farm owner's residence have tested negative for the virus, Lu said.

A further inspection on the residence will be conducted next week, Lu said.

Meanwhile, Taichung Deputy Mayor Cheng Chao-hsin (鄭照新) said city government personnel have recently been conducting sample testing and disinfection work at 152 farms, including 55 high-risk sites, on a daily basis.

As of Thursday, all tests had been negative, Cheng said.

On Oct. 26, Taiwan extended a ban on the transport and slaughter of pigs for another 10 days to ensure the African swine fever outbreak does not spread after the initial five-day ban was introduced.

● Pig transport, slaughter bans extended by 10 days amid ASF outbreak

Before the outbreak, Taiwan had been the only country in Asia to be free of African swine fever, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, as declared by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

According to the WOAH, an area can be declared disease-free three months after the last infected site has been disinfected, while uninfected pigs are placed in cleaned pig farms and closely monitored for signs of infection for two months.