BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s agriculture ministry said on Tuesday it had detected the African swine fever virus in wild boar in Hubei province.

The ministry said seven wild boar had been found dead in the Shennongjia Forestry district in the northwest of the province, which is in central China.

China’s domestic hog herd has already shrunk by more than 40% because of an epidemic of the disease, though few cases have been found in wild boar in the country.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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