Lai Chau culls approximately 9,000 pigs infected with African swine fever

As of July 24, more than 1,000 households in 56 communes and eight districts across Lai Chau have reported outbreaks of the ASF. The locality has so far culled approximately 9,000 pigs and has received over VND20 billion in funding to fight the epidemic .

Ha Van Um, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee had sent an urgent telegram requesting that relevant agencies and localities step up prevention efforts against the growing ASF epidemic in order to detect and cull any infected pigs in a timely manner.

The telegram also urged the need to avoid environmental pollution in the surrounding areas.

The local agricultural sector has continued to maintain 28 quarantine checkpoints at gateways to the province in order to spray disinfectants in vehicles that are transporting poultry and livestock through the region to prevent the epidemic from spreading further.

The province has also directed large-scale pig farms to restore pig breeding after being declared free from the epidemic and request for stricter control over the origin of pigs involved in the breeding process.

Furthermore, households have been encouraged to focus on raising poultry and livestock as an alternative to pigs, contributing to stabilising prices in the locality.