BANGKOK, Sept 18 (TNA) — Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Prapat Pothasuthon has ordered livestock development officials to take maximum precautionary measures to screen out the epidemic of African Swine Fever (ASF) that is happening in neighboring countries.
He said ASF was emerging in Myanmar, so he ordered the Livestock Development Department to increase quarantines along the Thai-Myanmar border in Chiang Rai province and have relevant personnel work their around the clock.
Officials would seize animal products that tourists brought across the border without permission and farmers would be briefed on standard swine farming to protect their animals, Mr Prapat said.
“Thailand has been taking precautions. As there is not a vaccine for the disease, pig transport across zones is banned. The Chiang Rai governor has set up about 100 checkpoints. The Swine Raisers Association of Thailand was asked to tell traders not to move pigs and to quickly buy slaughtered pigs to reduce the number of live pigs in localities and thus decrease epidemic risks,” Mr Prapat said.
Sorawit Thaneto, director-general of the Livestock Development Department, said ASF was spreading in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar and his officials were buying pigs from farmers in risky areas to eliminate them. About 200 pigs in Chiang Rai was bought and killed for the purpose.
He said consumers could continue eating pork as usual because ASF could not be transmitted to humans. (TNA)
