Taiwan has restored its status as a self-declared African swine fever (ASF)-free area with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the Ministry of Agriculture announced yesterday.
Following WOAH’s acknowledgement, Taiwan is once again the only country in Asia free of the three major swine diseases — foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever and ASF, the ministry said in a statement.
WOAH in May last year had recognized Taiwan’s self-declaration of freedom from African swine fever (ASF), with the country becoming the first in Asia to hold disease-free status for all three swine diseases, but Taiwan in October reported its first-ever ASF case involving a farm outbreak in Taichung.
Photo: Chiu Chih-rou, Taipei Times
The case was formally closed and reported to WOAH on Jan. 23 in accordance with required procedures, after the affected farm was cleaned and disinfected, and all samples collected after Nov. 21 last year came back negative.
The ministry said it submitted an application on Feb. 21 to regain self-declared ASF-free status.
“The application passed WOAH’s rigorous review in just over one month, far faster than its original estimate,” the ministry said.
It had originally estimated that it would take six to eight months to regain the status.
The result “demonstrates Taiwan’s thorough preparation and familiarity with international animal quarantine standards... It also highlights Taiwan’s strong epidemic prevention resilience,” the ministry said.
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