The first locality in Nghe An announced the end of African swine fever

Quynh Luu residents sprinkle lime powder on livestock farms to prevent disease in pigs. Photo: Viet Hung

As of April 15, 2019, after 30 days since the last outbreak in Quynh My commune, no new outbreaks have occurred. Based on legal regulations, on the morning of April 16, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district issued decisions to declare the end of African swine fever in Quynh My commune and the threatened communes: Ngoc Son, Quynh Lam, Quynh Hoa and Cau Giat town.

Livestock farming, veterinary, slaughtering, transportation, consumption and processing activities in Quynh My commune are allowed to resume normal operations according to the provisions of the Veterinary Law and current legal regulations.

Quynh Luu District People's Committee issued a Decision to declare the end of African swine fever in Quynh My commune. Photo: Viet Hung

Previously, from March 12 to March 16, 2019, Quynh My commune (Quynh Luu) was the first locality in Nghe An to have two consecutive outbreaks of African swine fever at two households. Authorities destroyed 23 pigs (including 3 sows and 20 piglets) with a total weight of more than 700 kg.

To proactively respond to African swine fever and prevent it from breaking out and spreading, Quynh Luu district has established an inspection team and directed Quynh My commune to set up 4 quarantine checkpoints; using 40 liters of chemicals and 4 tons of lime powder to spray disinfectants at epidemic areas, inter-village roads and farms.

In addition to Quynh My commune, Quynh Hung commune is about to complete 30 days of epidemic declaration and no new outbreak has occurred. If no new outbreak occurs by April 17, the District People's Committee will complete the documents and procedures to issue a Decision to declare the end of the epidemic in Quynh Hung commune on March 18.

Mr. Dau Duc Nam - Head of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district

Quynh My commune, nearly 2 km from the center of Quynh Luu district, is the first locality in Nghe An to announce the end of African swine fever. Graphics: Lam Tung

Sharing experiences in preventing African swine fever, Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee Dang Ngoc Binh said: As the first unit in Nghe An to have African swine fever, the district pays special attention to all direction and supervision of disease prevention. With a large area and a relatively large herd of more than 42,000 pigs, the prevention and response to African swine fever is of interest to the district's functional departments and is strictly monitored; thereby limiting the spread and outbreak of the disease.

Along with the timely direction of the district and communes in the epidemic area, many localities in the district have actively propagated and mobilized livestock households to proactively respond to the epidemic.

Over the past 30 days, African swine fever prevention work in Quynh My commune (Quynh Luu) has been vigorously implemented. Photo: Viet Hung

The District People's Committee recommends that livestock households in epidemic areas and communes in threatened areas urgently clean their barns and ensure proper disease prevention and control procedures. Particularly for households affected by African swine fever, it is necessary to comply with the quarantine period from the time the disease occurs until the herd is repopulated, which is 2-3 months; while communes in threatened areas can repopulate after treating their barns.

Before and during the outbreak of African swine fever, Quynh Luu district established quarantine checkpoints at the outbreak site, on main roads. In addition, the communes in the threatened areas also established 20 more checkpoints to control the epidemic. Up to this point, the total amount of chemicals distributed to the communes in the epidemic and threatened areas is 335 liters, 66 tons of lime powder, 10 pumps and 20 sets of clothes for disinfection spraying.