The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture yesterday confirmed the first cases of African swine fever in Beijing, a disease that has spread across the country, despite efforts to contain it.
The disease was found on two farms in the Fangshan District in southwest Beijing, where 86 out of more than 1,700 pigs died, the ministry said in a statement.
A special task force has since sealed off the farms for culling and disinfection while live pigs and pork products are barred from leaving the area.
Separately, senior ministry officials said during a briefing that 600,000 pigs have been culled since African swine fever was first detected in August in the world’s biggest consumer and producer of pork.
It surfaced in northeastern Liaoning Province, but has now spread to 20 provinces, with 73 cases reported.
“As you can see right now, the situation ... is still very severe,” Bureau Of Husbandry And Veterinary Medicine Deputy Director Feng Zhongwu (馮忠武) said. “China has frequent trade with affected countries with a huge amount of goods exchanged. Coupled with the long incubation period of the disease and the difficulty of detection, there is a high risk of the disease getting reintroduced.”
The ministry has also blamed the spread on backward farming methods, a lack of hygiene and the need to transport pigs long distances for sale.
In early September, government-controlled media said African swine fever had been discovered in just five provinces, with the ministry saying that the situation was “generally under control.”
However, it has steadily moved south into pork-producing districts, despite efforts to contain it, including culling over more than 500,000 livestock and banning the transport of live pigs in affected areas.
African swine fever has already caused a spike in pork prices in China and fueled growing fears of major effects on the world’s largest pig producer.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization in August warned that the disease could spread to other parts of Asia.
African swine fever is not harmful to humans, but causes deadly hemorrhagic fever in domesticated pigs and wild boar.
With no antidote or vaccine, the only known control method is to cull animals.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of