African Swine Fever Outbreak Spreads In Philippines' Southern Provinces

The Philippines confirmed on Sunday that African swine fever infections had spread in the south of the country, which accounts for nearly a third of the nation's 12.8 million pig herd. Additional cases have also been identified in some northern provinces, the Department of Agriculture said. The world's 10th-largest pork consumer and seventh-biggest pork importer reported its first-ever African swine fever outbreaks in September 2019 in some backyard farms near the capital Manila on the northern island of Luzon.

But a week ago, the agricultural department said samples from pigs in the southern province of Davao Occidental had tested positive for the highly contagious disease, which kills pigs but is not harmful to humans. On Sunday, the department said 407 pigs had been culled in two villages, with a swine population of 2,398, in Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao. The island had a swine herd of around 3.7 million as of Jan. 1, government data shows, or 29% of the country's total. -Full Report

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