Over the past two weeks, the disease has spread to many provinces and cities.

According to the Department of Animal Health, by June 1, a total of 518 villages in 16 provinces and cities had reported outbreaks of the disease with nearly 150,000 pigs infected, 66,000 of which were already culled.

To cope with the situation, Mr Tan asked all localities to enforce preventive measures, and step up monitoring to detect the disease early enough to prevent it from spreading far and wide.

Sixteen affected provinces and cities are Hai Duong, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Lang Son, Nghe An, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Hoa Binh, Cao Bang, and Son La.