Current situation of ASF in Asia

According to the last weekly WHO’s report and the WHOA’s reports regarding the outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) in Asia, the current situation is as follows:

• Mongolia: Since the first emergence on January 15th, 11 outbreaks in 6 provinces and in Ulaanbaatar have been notified involving 105 backyard farms, and more 3,115 pigs (this entailing more than 10% of the total Mongolian pig population) have died or have been destroyed. According to the data provided by the WHO, there have been no new outbreaks since last February.
• North Korea: The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the first outbreak of the disease in this country last May 23rd, 2019 in Chagand-Do, with a total of 99 susceptible animals.
• China: Since the confirmation, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), of the first outbreak of ASF in the province of Liaoning on August 3rd, 2018, 156 outbreaks have been detected in 32 provinces / autonomous regions / municipalities / special administrative region. About 1,170,000 pigs have been culled in an effort to halt further spread.
• Hong Kong: The first emergence of the disease was in May 2019, when the virus was detected in tissue samples taken from an imported pig carcass condemned at the Sheung Shui abattoir. The abattoir was declared an infected place, slaughterings were suspended, and the 6,515 pigs in the infected abattoir were destroyed and disposed of. In early June and early September new cases were detected at the Sheung Shui abattoir.
• Vietnam: Since the confirmation, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), of the first outbreak of ASF on February 19th, 2019, a total of 63 provinces / towns have informed of the presence of outbreaks and more than 4,500,000 pigs have been destroyed.
• Laos: The first outbreak was confirmed in the province of Salavan on June 20th, 2019, and so far, 94 outbreaks have been detected in 15 of its 18 provinces/towns. More than 25,000 pigs have died or been destroyed.
• Cambodia: The first outbreak was detected in the province of Ratanakiri on April 2nd, 2019. ASF outbreaks have been detected in 5 provinces: Ratanakiri, Tboung Khmum, Svay Rieng, Takeo and Kandal.
• Myanmar: Since the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation confirmed the first outbreak of ASF on August 1st, 2019, a total of 3 outbreaks have been notified in the state of Shan.
• Philippines: On 16 August, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) informed the Department of Agriculture (DA) of an increase in mortality in pigs reared on backyard farms in Rizal province. Blood samples were sent to Pirbright's reference laboratory in the UK, and the PCR result has been positive for ASF.