Thursday, November 22, 2018

China tightens disease controls



China has issued new rules to tighten notification of cases of African swine fever, including incentives for whistleblowers, amid concerns that not all outbreaks of the highly-contagious disease are being reported.

There have been more than 60 outbreaks in 18 provinces since early August, despite quarantines and culling of hundreds of thousands of pigs.

"The sites that have reported outbreaks are not in succession. They just abruptly emerge," he said.

It is also accepted that the disease entered China well before the first reported outbreak, said Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at Rabobank.

The bans on transport include registration requirements for trucks carrying live animals. They must also carry tracking devices.

However the rules have been broken and some pigs have been illegally transported and sold.

There has also been the worrisome discovery of a wild boar with the virus.