Trucks carrying pigs easily 'slip through' quarantine checkpoint in Hoang Mai town

Not strictly implementing control of pig transportation

At around 8:00 a.m. on May 31, we arrived at Con Temple Bridge, Quynh Phuong Ward and saw officers and soldiers of Quynh Phuong Border Guard Station stopping a modified vehicle carrying 3 pigs with a total weight of 250 kg, hired by a resident of Quynh Phuong Ward to transport them for slaughter.

Upon inspection, the man transporting the pigs presented a document on the health check of the pigs, but the entire content of the document, dated May 27, 2019, was invalid.

A modified vehicle transporting pigs to Quynh Phuong ward (Hoang Mai town) was stopped by authorities and had its documents checked. Photo: TB

The pig transporter said that these 3 pigs were purchased from Mr. Le Van Son's farm in Quynh Trang commune (Hoang Mai town) and brought to Quynh Phuong ward for slaughter.

Captain Luong Van Hai - Quynh Phuong Border Guard Station said: "This morning, the unit assigned 4 people to coordinate with the local authorities to set up a quarantine checkpoint right on Con Temple Bridge to control vehicles entering and leaving the area. However, at 8 o'clock, we discovered a modified vehicle preparing to pass through the checkpoint and asked it to stop, check the documents and discovered that the pigs being transported did not have valid documents. After that, we asked the vehicle to turn back and leave the area."

Quynh Phuong Border Guard Station coordinated with local authorities to check documents and requested that people not pass through the area without valid documents proving the number of pigs. Photo: TB

Setting up quarantine checkpoints just to... deal with it

According to the man who transported pigs to Quynh Phuong ward, his car carrying pigs went from Quynh Trang commune straight through the quarantine checkpoint set up in An Thinh block, Quynh Thien ward and through Quynh Di ward (where an outbreak of African swine fever recently appeared) before arriving at the quarantine checkpoint at Con Den bridge.

A question has been raised, why were the pigs not checked for documents at the quarantine checkpoints set up in Quynh Thien and Quynh Di wards, but only when they arrived in Quynh Phuong were the authorities stopped and checked for documents.

1. At 9:45 a.m. on May 31, there was no force on duty at the quarantine checkpoint in Quynh Di ward, and vehicles could pass easily. 2. Disinfectant spraying tools are available but only for temporary use. 3. Abandoning quarantine checkpoints or neglecting to control vehicles entering and exiting epidemic areas has been recorded in Quynh Thien and Quynh Di wards. Photo: TB

To find out what happened, we went to the quarantine checkpoint set up in An Thinh block, Quynh Thien ward and discovered that there was no one on duty at this checkpoint, vehicles were freely passing through the area, while the African swine fever outbreak was only a few hundred meters away from the checkpoint. According to some households in An Thinh block, in the first few days of setting up the checkpoint, veterinary officers and ward militia were seen on duty and spraying disinfectants, but for more than half a month now, no one has been on duty.

Regarding the quarantine checkpoint at An Thinh block established on Provincial Road 537B, Nghe An Newspaper has just reported that the functional forces here have "abandoned the checkpoint" and have not operated for nearly 2 weeks, while in Quynh Thien ward there is an outbreak of African swine fever. However, after the press reported, the authorities here have not yet arranged for anyone to be on duty at the checkpoint.

The slaughter and sale of pork still takes place normally in the African swine fever epidemic area in Quynh Thien without the control of veterinary forces. Photo: TB

Next, we continued to go to the checkpoint in Quynh Di ward to find out how the vehicle control and disinfection work was done here. At 8:45 a.m. the same day, this checkpoint did not have any functional forces stationed to perform the task of controlling and disinfecting the two routes of the one-way street; therefore, vehicles could easily pass through this checkpoint.

This is the reason why trucks transporting pigs can easily pass through quarantine checkpoints to enter other areas for slaughter, and the risk of spreading African swine fever is very high.

Hoang Mai town has now had two outbreaks of African swine fever in Quynh Thien and Quynh Di wards; the total number of pigs that had to be destroyed was over 7 tons. Hoang Mai currently has over 20,000 pigs, including 5 farms and 36 households.