African swine fever was confirmed at a pig farm in Taichung, the Ministry of Agriculture said today, prompting a five-day nationwide ban on transporting and slaughtering pigs, and marking the loss of Taiwan’s status as the only Asian nation free of all three major swine diseases.
The ministry held a news conference today confirming that the virus was detected at a farm in Wuci District (梧棲) yesterday evening.
Authorities preemptively culled 195 pigs at the farm at about 3am and disinfected the entire site to prevent the disease from spreading, the ministry said.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Taipei Times
Authorities also set up a 3km-radius control zone restricting movement around the affected area, it said.
The ministry is monitoring the health of all pigs in the area and investigating the source of the infection, it added.
It has also investigated the transport routes and all 33 farms associated with the suspected farm and found no abnormalities, it said.
Minister of Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) announced that an emergency response center would be set up on-site in Taichung today.
Starting from noon, transporting and slaughtering pigs has been suspended nationwide for at least five days, pending changes, and feeding pigs with kitchen waste has also been banned, Chen said.
The nation would also stop exporting pork products temporarily, he said.
All meat markets and transport vehicles would be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, he said.
Pigs that were transported before the suspension would still be allowed to enter meat markets and slaughterhouses, but cannot leave, he added.
African swine fever cannot be transmitted from animals to humans, as the virus does not replicate in the human body, so there is no risk of the infection spreading to humans.
The Central Emergency Operations Center for African Swine Fever said the virus takes a long time to completely disappear.
Not only is it highly contagious, but it can survive for about 100 days in refrigerated pork, up to 1,000 days in frozen pork and one month inside pigpens, the center said.
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to be officially free of classical swine fever (CSF), African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease in May when the World Organization for Animal Health certified its CSF-free status.
The recognition marked Taiwan’s achievement as the only Asian nation to be free of the three major swine diseases.
African swine fever has stricken many countries globally and swept across Asia since 2018, but Taiwan had effectively blocked the virus at its borders and was declared free of African swine fever in October last year.
Additional reporting by Esme Yeh
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS