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On February 4, 2021, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of Hong Kong (AFCD) confirmed the detection of African swine fever (ASF) virus in a local pig farm with 3200 susceptible animals (located in Wong Nai Tun, Yuen Long). This is the first local ASF case in the past decade. The AFCD ordered the culling of all 240 pigs sharing the same shed with the infected pigs and prohibited the movement of pigs on this farm and on other farms in a 3 km radius.
Samples were taken from pigs on the infected farm and farms in the proximity. Subsequently, on February 6, pigs in a second shed on the same farm tested positive. All 590 animals in that building were to be culled.
Background
Currently, there are around 43 pig farms in Hong Kong, accounting for 15% of live pig supplies in Hong Kong. The daily local supply of live pigs ranged from 280 to 360 heads in the past twelve months, while the imported share from 1,600 to 2,000 heads.
Back in May 2019, Hong Kong had two cases of ASF in the city’s largest slaughterhouse. Both pigs were imported from China. Since then, the Hong Kong government (HKG) introduced a measure prohibiting live pigs from remaining in the slaughterhouse more than 24 hours.
February 5, 2021/ OIE, USDA, and AFCD.
https://www.oie.int/
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/
https://www.afcd.gov.hk/
