The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) yesterday said that it plans further inspection tomorrow of a pig farm in Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲), where African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Oct. 25.
Following the removal of miscellaneous articles from the ASF-affected pig farm and ongoing cleaning work, the military sent a team of 80 soldiers and 35 specialists from the Chemical Corps to clean the site on Friday, with operations continuing until early yesterday morning, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) told a news conference.
An inspection would be conducted tomorrow, Tu said, adding that if the site tests negative for ASF, another inspection would be carried out seven days later.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government via CNA
If the tests are positive, additional disinfection work would be undertaken, she said.
With the exception of the ASF-affected farm in Wuci, other pig farms nationwide have so far received a clean bill of health, and no ASF was detected, Tu said.
The government’s ASF Forward Command Center aims not only to contain the virus at the Wuci site, but to also halt the disease’s spread to other places to protect the country’s pig farming industry, she said.
The ASF-affected pig farm tested positive for the disease even after two rounds of disinfection, Tu said.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said that inspections of the affected farm still detected traces of the virus, which is why the latest disinfection work included military specialists from chemical warfare units.
The virus at the Wuci farm has been contained and inspections of the pig farm owner’s residence have tested negative for ASF, Lu said.
Another inspection of the residence would be conducted next week, Lu added.
Taichung Deputy Mayor Cheng Chao-hsin (鄭照新) said that city government personnel have been conducting sample testing and disinfection work at 152 farms, including 55 high-risk sites, on a daily basis.
As of Thursday, all tests have been negative, Cheng said.
On Sunday last week, the government extended the ban on the transportation and slaughtering of pigs for another 10 days to ensure that ASF does not spread.
Before the outbreak, Taiwan had been the only country in Asia to be free of ASF, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.
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