African swine fever infects Kinmen: drifting pig carcass carried by Chinese marine debris, not transmitted to Taiwan main island
A dead pig specimen that drifted to Kinmen late last year tested positive for African swine fever virus genes this afternoon (the 3rd)! The Council of Agriculture held an emergency press conference in the evening to explain, pointing out that the pig carcass drifted from China to Kinmen along the northeast monsoon, "equivalent to a positive case detected domestically," stressing that this is not an outbreak of African swine fever within the country.
However, to ensure the disease does not spread to local and main island pig farms, the Council of Agriculture announced that starting today, the transport of pigs and their products from Kinmen County to Taiwan is suspended for 14 days. Carrying raw or cooked pork products back to the main island is strictly prohibited, and violators will be fined between 50,000 and 1,000,000 yuan. At the same time, movement controls are imposed on pig farms within a three-kilometer radius of the discovery site, to be lifted only after the pigs are confirmed to be in good health with no abnormalities such as loss of appetite or lethargy.
Pig farm in Jinsha Township currently all normal
Wen Shui-cheng explained that yesterday a quarantine visit was conducted at a pig farm in Jinsha Township, where all 190 pigs on the farm are currently in normal condition, and the follow-up handling after the drifting pig was found on the 31st followed SOP, with 13 coast patrol personnel, 2 epidemic prevention institute personnel involved in disease control, and all transport vehicles thoroughly disinfected, and these personnel were also required not to have contact with pig farm personnel for one week.
As for when the high-risk infection crisis at the Kinmen pig farm can be lifted? Deng Ming-chung pointed out that the virus has an incubation period and requires complete monitoring for two to three weeks, and controls can only be lifted after confirming that all pigs on the farm show no abnormalities.
Taiwan detects eighth case of African swine fever virus today, from Harbin children's sausage
The Council of Agriculture also stated that the Animal Health Research Institute today again detected 1 case of African swine fever virus genes in a Chinese mainland pork product (Harbin children's sausage), which is the 8th positive case entering Taiwan, and the product has been fully destroyed after sampling.
The product was collected by the Hsinchu Branch of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine on December 25 from the passenger agricultural product discard box at Taoyuan International Airport, and was sent to the Animal Health Research Institute on December 27, where sequencing reaction confirmed that the gene fragment sequence was 100% similar to the gene fragment of the Chinese mainland African swine fever virus strain, showing that passengers carrying pork products back from the Chinese mainland pose an extremely high risk of spreading African swine fever.
The previous 7 confirmed cases were 1 case each on October 31, November 13, and November 30, 2 cases on December 12, and 1 case each on December 20 and December 21.
From December 18, 2018 to now, 36 cases fined 200,000 yuan
The Council of Agriculture added that for penalty cases of passengers illegally carrying meat into the country, from December 18, 2018 after the penalty amounts were raised to January 2, 2019, statistics on cases seized at airports and ports nationwide (including the mini three links) show 36 cases fined 200,000 yuan, 63 cases fined 30,000 yuan, and 9 cases fined 10,000 yuan.
The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine once again reminds the public not to carry meat when entering the country, not to buy foreign meat online for delivery to Taiwan, and violators will face heavy penalties, so do not test the law. The bureau finally appeals that if the public has information on smuggling of animals or animal products, they are welcome to report it to the bureau. The free reporting hotline is 0800-039131, and if the report is verified, a reward of up to 5,000,000 yuan can be obtained.