1st African Swine Fever case in Tacloban City confirmed

TACLOBAN City has been added to the list of areas in the Eastern Visayas Region with a confirmed case of the African Swine Fever (ASF), with one farm infected. The city government announced Thursday that the Department of Agriculture’s regional office reported the positive result on Wednesday that came from Barangay 84. “The Regional ASF Task Force, together with the local government unit thru the City Veterinary Office shall undertake the necessary measures for the rapid containment and elimination of the disease. Part of which is the mandatory humane slaughter and proper disposal of all pigs within the 500-meter radius infected zone,” the city’s information office said. Agriculture Regional Executive Director Angel C. Enriquez met with Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez on Feb. 24 to discuss the indemnification process for affected hog raisers. Mr. Romualdez committed that stricter border controls and intensified monitoring measures will be undertaken to stop the spread of the virus. Tacloban City serves as the regional center. ASF cases were first reported in the region in January this year. The affected areas are the towns of Abuyog, La Paz, and Javier, all in Leyte province. These are so far the only ASF infections in the Visayas, which cover the country’s central islands. On Wednesday, the Agriculture department said Eastern Visayas was not among the areas that shipped hogs and pork supply to Metro Manila due to “insufficient” stock. More than 436,000 hogs have been culled as of end-January across the country, mainly in the northern mainland of Luzon, since the first ASF outbreak was confirmed in 2019. —