The Vietnamese Government has confirmed that an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak is spreading widely in Vietnam and is hurting the local farming industry, forcing the culling of three times the number of hogs culled last year, Reuters has reported.
This year so far, the outbreak has to 2,275 areas, in 57 out of the country’s 63 cities and provinces, the government said, adding that the authorities have so far this year culled 230,000 hogs.
“The outbreak is evolving in a complicated manner,” the government said in a statement. “It is threatening to spread on a large scale.”
Vietnam reported its first ASFÂ cases in February 2019, resulting in a forced culling of around 20% of its hog herd, and doubling domestic price of pork as of early last year. The outbreak subsided during the rest of last year and early this year, however, allowing the country to rebuild its hog herd.
