Customs officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are today to start checking the carry-on luggage of all travelers arriving from the Philippines for pork products, the Central Emergency Operation Center for African Swine Fever said yesterday.
Other airports in Taiwan already inspect all luggage using X-ray machines and sniffer dogs supplied by the Customs Administration, the center said.
The measure was introduced after African swine fever was reportedly detected in the Southeast Asian nation, it added.
The Philippines joins Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Mongolia, Myanmar, North and South Korea, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam as countries from which travelers entering Taiwan must have their carry-on luggage checked by personnel from the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, the center said.
Taiwan has not reported any African swine fever infections after China reported its first outbreak in August last year and all of its provinces had been affected by late April.
Taipei has been on high alert to prevent the disease spreading to Taiwan, as it could cripple the nation’s pig farming industry, which is worth NT$80 billion (US$2.55 billion).
The virus does not affect humans, but is deadly to pigs and there is no known cure or vaccine.
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