BEIJING (Reuters) – China reported two new cases of African swine fever on Friday, as the deadly disease continued to spread to new areas in the world’s top pork producer.

One case occurred on a farm of 484 pigs in the city of Gongzhuling in Jilin province in the northeast of China, killing 56 pigs, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. This is the first outbreak of the disease in the province.

A second case in the Horqin Right Banner area of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region killed 22 pigs on a farm of 138 animals, it added in the statement on its website.

China has reported close to 20 outbreaks of the disease in eight provinces in less than two months, with new cases being reported each week.

It has banned the transport of live hogs and pig products from 16 provinces and regions, shut live markets and banned the use of feed derived from pig blood in an effort to control the spread of the disease.

But it is still struggling to contain the spread, said state news agency Xinhua on Friday, blaming the lack of manpower and financial resources at local levels to prevent and tackle animal disease.

County-level animal health supervision agencies have an average of less than 10 people, it said, adding that law enforcement by the officials was “seriously insufficient”.

It urged relevant departments to boost resources at local level to improve prevention and controls of animal disease.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Edmund Blair)

tagreuters.com2018binary_LYNXNPEE8K0R3-VIEWIMAGE

Author