Nghe An issues urgent dispatch to prevent and control African swine fever

The telegram clearly stated the causes of the epidemic:(1) Pathogens are widely circulating in livestock herds, floods spread pathogens from animal burial pits and waste from livestock farms;(2) Farmers subjectively increase and restore herds but do not apply biosecurity measures and have not proactively vaccinated their livestock; (3) Small-scale slaughtering, trading and transportation activities are difficult to control;(4)Many localities are negligent in disease prevention and control;(5)Disease surveillance is not timely; (6)Farmers hide the epidemic, sell sick pigs... Therefore, the risk of widespread disease outbreak in the coming time is very high, especially in the last months of 2020, Lunar New Year and early 2021.

Destroying pigs infected with African swine fever in Dien Lien commune (Dien Chau). Photo courtesy of Xuan Hoang

1. People's Committees of districts, cities and towns

- Continue to resolutely and synchronously deploy solutions to prevent and control livestock and poultry diseases in accordance with the provisions of the Veterinary Law, directives of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Provincial People's Committee (Decision No. 812/QD-UBND dated March 19, 2019, Decision No. 3385 dated October 1, 2020, Urgent dispatch No. 10/CD-UBND dated April 14, 2020, Urgent dispatch No. 33/CDUBND dated September 24, 2020, Directive No. 06/CT-UBND dated March 18, 2020 on focusing on resolutely and synchronously deploying solutions to prevent and control livestock and poultry diseases and ASF...).

- Establish working groups led by leaders of the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to inspect epidemic prevention work in communes with ASF. Direct the Department of Agriculture/Economics and the Agricultural Service Center to send technical staff directly to communes with ASF that have not passed 21 days to coordinate with local authorities to organize measures to thoroughly handle outbreaks, control and prevent the disease from recurring and spreading widely. Declare an epidemic when it tends to spread rapidly and widely according to Article 26 of the Veterinary Law.

- Mobilize maximum resources to focus on directing the drastic implementation of measures to prevent and control DTLCP, considering this a key and urgent task at present and in the future. Proactively monitor and collect samples for testing to detect the disease early.

- Well organize the implementation of the month of sanitation, disinfection and sterilization according to Plan No. 3760/KH-SNN-CNTY dated November 9, 2020 of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on the implementation of disinfection and sterilization of livestock environment to prevent and control animal diseases after the 4th flood in 2020 in Nghe An province.

- Strengthen information and propaganda work so that people are clearly aware of the dangerous nature of ASF, apply biosafety measures in livestock farming, and implement well the "6 no's" in ASF prevention: Do not hide the epidemic; Do not buy, sell, or transport sick or dead pigs; Do not slaughter or consume sick or dead pigs; Do not throw dead pigs into the environment; Do not use untreated leftover food to feed pigs; Do not use untreated river, pond, or canal water to bathe pigs, clean barns, or give pigs water to drink.

- Establish a district-level mobile inter-sectoral working group to control the transportation of animals and animal products to inspect business locations, trade, transport, and slaughter of livestock and poultry. Strictly handle violations according to regulations.

- Allocate funds to effectively implement epidemic prevention and control measures.

-Directing People's Committees of communes, wards and towns:

+ Actively deploy surveillance to detect early pigs infected with or suspected of having ASF. Organize the destruction of sick pigs according to procedures. Absolutely do not let farmers destroy them themselves, causing the disease to spread. Spread lime powder and disinfect pens with destroyed sick pigs. Well manage the control of slaughtering, the transportation of pigs and pig products in and out of epidemic areas. Strictly handle cases of not reporting epidemics, selling, slaughtering, and dumping sick pigs or pigs suspected of being infected into the environment.

+ Require pig farms and households to voluntarily declare their livestock activities according to the provisions of the Law on Livestock, Circular No. 23/2014/TTBNNPTNT dated November 30, 2019 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development guiding a number of articles of the Law on Livestock on livestock activities for monitoring and management. Organizations and individuals that arbitrarily re-herd without permission from local authorities, do not declare livestock activities; do not comply with mandatory vaccination for livestock according to the provisions of Circular No. 07/2016/TTBNNPTNT dated May 31, 2016 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development regulating the prevention of terrestrial animal diseases, do not proactively implement epidemic prevention according to the instructions of local authorities and specialized agencies, when an epidemic occurs and is forced to be destroyed, will not be entitled to the State's support policy.

+ Instruct breeders to regularly clean disease prevention rooms, proactively buy lime powder, disinfectant chemicals to disinfect walkways and barns, make disinfection pits in front of barn doors; limit people and visitors from entering the barn area as much as possible; have solutions to prevent rats, insects, birds... from entering the barn area, and equip them with separate clothes and boots when entering the barn;

+ Organize vaccination for livestock and poultry in the fall of 2020 to ensure 100% vaccination coverage.

Que Phong district directed communes with outbreaks to strictly implement solutions to prevent African swine fever, including setting up epidemic control checkpoints. Photo: Xuan Hoang

2. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development directs:

- The working group established under Decision 729/QD-SNN.CNTY dated September 25, 2020 of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development urgently organized an inspection of disease prevention work at the grassroots level, especially in districts where the epidemic has not passed 21 days.

- The interdisciplinary mobile working group (established in Decision 125/QDSNN.QLKTKHCN dated March 4, 2019 of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) coordinates with relevant agencies to strengthen control of the transportation of animals and animal products to prevent ASF in the province, and strictly handle violations according to regulations.

-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine:

+ Send technical staff directly to localities where DTLCP outbreaks have occurred within the past 21 days, coordinate with local authorities to organize measures to thoroughly handle outbreaks, control and prevent the disease from spreading widely.

+ Fully prepare materials, labor protection, and chemicals to serve timely and effective epidemic prevention work.

3. Department of Finance:Preside and coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to advise the Provincial People's Committee on arranging funding for the prevention and control of ASF according to regulations.

4. Department of Natural Resources and Environment:Take the lead in coordinating with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to provide guidance on burial locations, techniques for controlling and treating the environment when destroying pigs and pig products; provide guidance on measures to treat the environment, wastewater, and waste from slaughterhouses, pig bathing points, etc.

5. Provincial Police, Department of Industry and Trade, Market Management Department:Directing forces and affiliated units to coordinate with the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine and localities to strengthen inspection, control, arrest and strictly handle organizations.Organizations and individuals trading and transporting smuggled animals and animal products of unknown origin, not ensuring veterinary hygiene and food safety.

6. Provincial Radio and Television Station, Nghe An Newspaper:Strengthen propaganda activities on the epidemic situation, risk factors, and disease prevention measures for livestock and poultry so that people do not panic and proactively apply effective disease prevention measures for livestock.

7. Relevant departments, branches and sectors:Based on functions, tasks and powers, proactively coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to implement drastic and synchronous measures to effectively prevent and control ASF.

Authorities inspect and educate traders in markets about safe pork trading during the complicated outbreak of African swine fever. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requests the Chairmen of the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns; Directors of Departments, Heads of relevant provincial-level sectors to strictly implement this Official Dispatch./.