Alert remains high over African swine fever

Quarantine authorities and farmers remain highly vigilant over additional outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF), as suspected cases are being reported — the latest in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, Sunday.

It is the first suspected case reported outside Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, which are close to North Korea where ASF is believed to have been quite widely spread. If the case is confirmed to be ASF, it will mean the contagious disease has spread south.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, a slaughterhouse in Hongseong reported the deaths of 19 pigs to regional quarantine authorities.

Quarantine authority sent workers to fumigate the country’s largest piggery town.

So far, four farms in Gyeonggi Province — two in Paju and one each in Yeoncheon and Gimpo — and five farms on Ganghwa Island in Incheon have been confirmed to be affected by ASF.

Amid the ongoing reports of suspected cases, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon called for all necessary measures to prevent ASF from spreading across the country.

Convening a pan-government meeting on the quarantine on Saturday, Lee said there could be other ways of spreading the virus that the authorities could have not imagined.

“We are conducting disinfectant works under the premise that the disease is spread via people, big animals or vehicles, but there could be something that the current quarantine system is missing,” he said.

Lee also visited a unit of the Korea Coast Guard in Incheon, Sunday, to check the quarantine conditions on the sea border while discussing ways to stop the smuggling of illegal livestock products.

The prime minister called for an extensive quarantine effort in the West Sea particularly, because it is close to North Korea and China, countries where ASF has been rampant.