Asia is haunted by ASF fears
Malaysian government is worried about the impact that an ASF outbreak it will have on the swine industry in the country and asked farmers not to cover any cases of disease or unnatural death of their pigs. If they are caught hiding these facts, the authorities can fine them up to RM25,000 ($6).
"As of Jun 20, 2019, six ASF outbreaks have been reported in Asia, namely in China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea and Laos. Laos reported the first outbreak of ASF on Jun 20 in seven farms in the Saravane territory. Now there is only one buffer zone left which is Thailand. We are worried that if Thailand got infected, this plague could come into Malaysia,", declared deputy agriculture and agro-based industry minister Sim Tze Tzin, according to Channel News Asia.
To prevent the spread of the ASF virus into the country, the Veterinary Services Department issued a ban on the importation of pigs and pig products from China, Poland, Belgium, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
In Thailand, authorities have recently published an estimate on economic damage that would occur if the ASF virus reaches Thailand. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives estimates that if the disease infects 30 percent of the swine population, the economic damage will total 21.17 billion baht ($672 million). In the scenario of a 50 percent swine infection rate, the economic damage climbs to 35.28 billion baht ($1.1 billion) while in the 80 percent infection rate scenario the economic damage reaches 56.45 billion baht ($1.8 billion).
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the number of pigs culled due to the ASF outbreak has reached 3 million, which stands for almost 10% of the coutr's swine inventory.
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