African swine fever broke out but people in the Ky Son border area were negligent and subjective.
(Baonghean.vn) - African swine fever has re-emerged strongly in the border district of Ky Son (Nghe An). In just one week, the epidemic has appeared in 5 communes that had previously been declared free of the epidemic. However, epidemic prevention work is still negligent and subjective in some places.
Border communes take epidemic prevention lightly
Three days ago, Ms. Lo Thi Duyen's family in Hoa Ly village, My Ly commune (Ky Son) had to bury 6 pigs. That was a considerable amount of money for a poor family like hers.
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| People of My Ly commune (Ky Son) carry dead pigs to National Highway 16. Photo: Ho Phuong |
Ms. Duyen said that on the morning of October 2, she discovered two pigs that had stopped eating and lay dead. The next day, the remaining pigs in the herd also stopped eating and died. In just two days, all of her family's black pigs (some weighing more than 50kg) had died. The family's plan for a warm Tet holiday was ruined because of African swine fever.
Not far from Ms. Duyen's house, Mr. Vi Van Phong (Hoa Ly village) is also sad because his herd of pigs weighing nearly 200 kg had to be buried not long ago.
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| Hoa Ly village, My Ly commune, one of the localities being ravaged by African swine fever. Photo: Ho Phuong |
Mr. Luong Van Bien, Deputy Secretary of the Hoa Ly village Party Cell, said that in the past few days, a lot of pigs in the village died, some families had 5 to 6 pigs die. In just a few days, Hoa Ly village alone had more than 80 pigs infected with African swine fever. When African swine fever "knocked on the door" of any house, all the pigs in that family died, not a single one was left.
It is known that currently My Ly commune has 4 villages with African swine fever: Hoa Ly, Xieng Tam, Yen Hoa, and Huoi Bun village. The total number of pigs in My Ly commune that have been destroyed is more than 200.
At noon on October 5, we came across a pig weighing about 70kg lying on the side of Highway 16, passing through Hoa Ly village, My Ly commune. Right next to it was a pig pen with a small hole in it. The villagers suspected that the pig was infected with African swine fever, because many pigs in the village had died from this disease. A villager said that the pig belonged to Mr. Lo Van Hoa's family.
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| Despite the ongoing pandemic, checkpoints are deserted by law enforcement, photo taken on October 5. Photo: Ho Phuong |
Also on October 5, we went to the commune’s checkpoints, but did not see any authorities checking or spraying disinfectants on passing vehicles. Many checkpoints only had small, discolored white lime streaks and signs reading “No transport of pigs and pig products outside the epidemic area” remaining.
African swine fever has been occurring in the area for over a week now. Under the direction of the commune, the village has also set up two checkpoints for inspection, spreading lime, and spraying disinfectants at the beginning and end of the village. Today (Saturday) they are closed, and lime and chemicals have run out for several days now, waiting for the district to bring them in on Monday.
Regarding the issue of deserted checkpoints, Mr. Luong Van Bay, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of My Ly commune, said: "The epidemic started on September 28, first in Yen Hoa village. As soon as the test results were available, the commune established a Steering Committee for African swine fever prevention and control consisting of 10 people. The commune also gave strong instructions, but people still let their pigs roam freely, and when a pig dies, they slaughter it to eat. The commune has run out of options."
The epidemic broke out in many communes.
Mr. Nguyen Cong Hieu - Head of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station of Ky Son district said: By the end of September, there were only 3 communes in the district that had not been free of the epidemic, but from September 29 until now, African swine fever has broken out in 5 more communes: My Ly, Bac Ly, Ta Ca, Chieu Luu and Muong Tip. These communes had previously had the epidemic, but had been declared free of it. Worryingly, these new outbreaks occurred in villages that had not previously had the epidemic.
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| Black pig is a specialty of Ky Son. Photo courtesy of Lu Phu |
According to Mr. Hieu, the biggest concern for Ky Son is that the price of black pigs is high, from 100,000 - 120,000 VND/kg, while the price to support the destruction of pigs infected with the disease is 25,000 VND/kg, so people are afraid that people will hide the disease to slaughter it, causing the disease to spread widely, affecting the local specialty black pig herd.
Thus, currently in the border district of Ky Son, there are 8 communes that have not passed 30 days of the epidemic. Previously, Ky Son district had 17 communes with the epidemic, the number of pigs forced to be destroyed was 2,358, more than 73 tons of live pigs.
The Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station is submitting to the District People's Committee a budget allocation to purchase an additional 50 tons of lime powder, and at the same time providing additional chemicals for communes to be proactive in disease prevention work; at the same time, proposing that the district strengthen the maintenance of animal disease control posts on National Highway 7A.
