Is there another Chinese poisonous pig invasion? The African Swine Fever Central Disaster Response Center stated today (8th) that the National Defense Inspection Office received a notification from the Coast Guard on the 5th that a dead pig was found on Wushajiao Beach, Jinning Township, Kinmen. The veterinary clinic determined that the pig's physical examination tested positive for African swine fever virus nucleic acid. This is the fourth case of pigs carrying African swine fever virus drifting to my country this year.
Since the beginning of this year, a total of 4 cases of pigs carrying the African swine fever virus have been found in Kinmen. Since the severe outbreak of African swine fever in China in 2018, there have been a total of 24 cases of pigs carrying the virus. The response center said that this shows that the risk of pigs drifting to the shore with the sea currents continues to exist. With the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday approaching, relevant ministries will be coordinated to strengthen coastal epidemic prevention measures for passengers, postal parcels, express delivery and sea areas to strictly prevent the introduction of overseas viruses.
The Response Center stated that the pig floating at sea was notified by the coast patrol unit of the Coast Guard on the 5th that a dead pig carcass was found on Wushajiao Beach, Jinning Township, Kinmen County. After receiving the notification, the Kinmen County Animal and Plant Epidemic Prevention Office immediately sent personnel to the scene to complete sampling, carcass disposal, and cleaning and disinfection of the surrounding environment in accordance with standard operating procedures; The specimens were sent to a veterinary clinic for examination, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) testing confirmed that they were positive for African swine fever virus nucleic acid. Due to the geographical location of Kinmen, the virus gene sequences carried by previous sea-floating pigs were the same as those of Chinese epidemic strains. The latest sea-floating pig virus still needs further genetic sequence analysis and comparison.
The response center stated that the Kinmen Epidemic Prevention Station has listed a total of 22 pig farms within a 10-kilometer radius of the discovery site as objects of controlled health visits in accordance with standard procedures. Health visits to all pig farms have been completed today and it has been confirmed that all pigs are in good health. In order to strengthen risk control, the Ministry of Agriculture also announced today that it will suspend the export of Kinmen pork and processed products to the main island of Taiwan and other outlying islands. There must be no epidemic for at least one week before relevant controls will be lifted.
As around the Mid-Autumn Festival is the peak period for passengers to bring or send illegal meat into the country, the response center stated that it will strengthen relevant border prevention measures across departments, such as strengthening passenger inspections at airports, ports and small three links, strengthening inspections of international postal parcels and sea and air express delivery, and strengthening coastal patrols and smuggling inspections in sea areas. We have expanded entry-exit and multilingual anti-epidemic propaganda. We also remind the public not to bring, send by post, cross-border online shopping, or import products containing pork mooncakes, jerky, meat floss, sausages and other products from China and other African swine fever-affected areas. We also remind overseas relatives and friends not to send meat-containing gifts to Taiwan. First-time offenders will be fined NT$200,000.
