ASF Belgium: Measures lifted

After having obtained the "free" from African swine fever (ASF) status at the European level, on December 21, 2020 Belgium obtained this same recognition from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). This confirms the eradication of the disease in Belgium, which is excellent news that allows resumption of activity for pig farmers (and especially exports).

The biosecurity measures in the infected area will be lifted, with a return to "normal" traffic in the forest, in compliance with federal health standards.

A "post-crisis" management response is in place. This response outlines the following:

January 25, 2021

Farmers who had to slaughter their pigs as a preventive measure in 2018 following the outbreak of African swine fever in the Gaume region can resume their activities.

Until March 31, 2021

• Monitoring and maintenance of fences in the infected area will continue
• The search for dead wild boar continues
• The elimination of wild boar in accordance with the Walloon Government decree dated July 16, 2020 continues
• Wild boar destroyed, found dead, or shot by hunters continue to be tested for ASF to identify any positive cases

Starting April 1, 2021

This brings us back to the application of the Forestry Code in the infected zone (in addition to the COVID-19 sanitary measures limiting the number of people outdoors to a maximum of 4).

A decree is being prepared to review and simplify the division of the zones: the infected zone will become a surveillance zone and the two other zones will be merged to become an observation zone.

For all the zones, 1106 km²:

• Fences remain until March 31, 2022 when their removal will be reviewed
• Search efforts continue for wild boar carcasses until August 31, 2021
• Adapted boar hunting plan
• Bagging of found dead boars until March 31, 2022
• DNA tests on shot boars to detect possible boar intrusions
• Marketing of wild boar meat is possible again in this area

Maintaining these measures after recovering the ASF-free status is necessary to avoid a recurrence of ASF.