African swine fever is complicated, Nghe An issues directive to strengthen disease prevention and control

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from the beginning of 2023 to now, the whole country has had more than 530 outbreaks.African swine fever, forcing the culling of over 20,000 pigs in 44 provinces and cities. The epidemic has been on the rise since August 2023, especially in localities with large pig herds, negatively affecting pig farming and not ensuring food supply in the last months of the year.

In the provinceNghe AnRecently, African swine fever has become complicated and is at risk of spreading widely in many localities; there are currently 77 outbreaks of African swine fever in small-scale farms in 12 districts and cities that have not passed 21 days.

The cause of the epidemic is that many localities are subjective, negligent, and lack drastic measures; do not allocate enough funds and human resources for epidemic prevention and control; do not proactively purchase lime powder and chemicals for disinfection; destroy sick pigs that do not meet technical requirements; some places do not have disease control checkpoints... There is also the phenomenon of hiding epidemics and throwing dead animals into the environment, spreading the epidemic and polluting the environment. The vaccination rate for livestock is low, not meeting disease prevention requirements. The re-herding, herd expansion, transportation, slaughter, and consumption of animals and animal products have not been thoroughly controlled according to regulations. Flooding in many places creates conditions for pathogens to develop and spread...

Pursuant to Official Dispatch No. 1097/CD-TTg dated November 16, 2023 of the Prime Minister on drastic and synchronous implementation of solutions to prevent and control African swine fever, Official Dispatch No. 8199/BNN-TY dated November 14, 2023 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on strengthening the prevention and control of livestock and poultry diseases in Nghe An province.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Chairmen of the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to focus on directing, organizing and implementing drastic, synchronous and effective measures to prevent and control African swine fever in accordance with the direction of the Central Government and the province, especially strictly applying the solutions in Decision No. 812/QD-UBND dated March 19, 2019 on promulgating the emergency response scenario for African swine fever in Nghe An province. Establish rapid response teams, report and handle outbreaks when newly discovered, thoroughly destroy sick pigs and dead pigs according to technical procedures, ensure biosafety, and avoid spreading the disease.

Direct the People's Committees at the commune level to mobilize local forces to inspect, monitor, promptly collect and destroy animal carcasses in the environment (rivers, streams, canals, ditches, landfills, etc.). Propagate to people to proactively prevent diseases, not to hide epidemics, not to sell, slaughter, or dump diseased or suspected diseased animals into the environment; resolutely and strictly handle violations according to the provisions of Decree No. 90/2017/ND-CP dated July 31, 2017 of the Government on penalties for administrative violations in the veterinary field.

Proactively allocate funds for disease prevention and control (funds for the activities of interdisciplinary teams, teams, disease control posts, funds for purchasing supplies, lime powder, chemicals, vaccines, etc.); funds for implementing the plan to prevent and control African swine fever. Review and fully allocate veterinary professionals to ensure the requirements for disease prevention and control in the area.

Urgently review and inject additional vaccines to prevent dangerous infectious diseases in livestock (foot-and-mouth disease, avian influenza, lumpy skin disease, rabies in dogs and cats, etc.; promote African swine fever vaccination for pigs) to ensure coverage of over 80% of the total herd at the time of vaccination; especially in districts with low vaccination rates such as Dien Chau, Anh Son, Quynh Luu, Nghi Loc, Tan Ky, Thanh Chuong, etc.

Districts receiving vaccine support are directed to deploy the injection of all vaccines provided; speed up the progress of foot-and-mouth disease vaccination (provided by the province) in Thanh Chuong district, Hoang Mai town, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Nghia Dan, and Tuong Duong.

Assign specialized forces to closely follow the area, strengthen monitoring to villages, especially areas where epidemics have occurred, high-risk areas to detect and handle epidemics promptly. Instruct farmers to regularly monitor livestock, apply biosecurity measures; clean and disinfect with lime powder, chemicals in the barn area and surrounding areas.

Support livestock households affected by African swine fever and lumpy skin disease to the right subjects, publicly and transparently, without taking advantage of policies according to the direction in Official Dispatch No. 9496/UBND-NN dated November 3, 2023 of the Provincial People's Committee and Official Dispatch No. 900/CNTY-HCTH.QLDB dated November 15, 2023 of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine on guidance on supporting documents for livestock affected by African swine fever and lumpy skin disease.

For localities with epidemics: Focus all resources to completely handle outbreaks, not let the epidemic spread, prolong and cause new outbreaks. Any locality that is subjective, negligent in the work of preventing and controlling animal diseases, allowing the epidemic to spread widely, has a low vaccination rate, does not give strong direction, does not rectify the dumping of animal carcasses into the environment, the Chairman of the People's Committee at the district and commune levels must be responsible to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: Inspect, urge and guide localities in preventing and controlling animal diseases, especially the prevention and control of African swine fever and vaccination in localities in the province.

Direct the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine to be the standing agency in the work of preventing and controlling livestock, poultry and aquatic diseases in the province; closely coordinate with localities to monitor and synthesize developments of the African swine fever situation to promptly report and advise on appropriate disease prevention and control; fully prepare supplies, chemicals, vaccines... to handle small-scale epidemics.

Implement a full, timely and accurate reporting regime of data on the online animal disease reporting system; strengthen quarantine and control of the transportation of animals and animal products.

The Departments of Finance, Natural Resources and Environment, Industry and Trade, Market Management Department, and Provincial Police coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and local authorities to direct and guide environmental treatment measures in animal husbandry, destruction of animals and animal products. Strengthen inspection, arrest and strictly handle cases of intentionally transporting and consuming animals and animal products illegally, without quarantine certificates, evading quarantine via the North-South highway, selling sick animals, dumping animal carcasses into the environment, etc.

The Department of Information and Communications directs media agencies to step up propaganda on measures to prevent and control African swine fever so that people do not panic and proactively apply measures according to the instructions of specialized agencies. At the same time, propagate and mobilize people not to "turn their backs" on pork, continue to consume and use safe pork to contribute to solving difficulties for the livestock industry.

Relevant provincial departments and branches, based on their functions, tasks and powers, proactively coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and district-level People's Committees to effectively implement measures to prevent and control African swine fever and other diseases in livestock./.