Over 500 cities, municipalities free of African swine fever —DA

Over 500 areas in the Philippines are now free of African swine fever (ASF), the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Thursday.

Of the figure, at least 200 have been recovered through the “sentinel” program of the agriculture department.

“Sa kasalukuyan, mahigit 500 ‘yung locality o munisipyo at syudad na wala nang reported cases ng ASF,” Dr. Reildrin Morales, Assistant Secretary for Livestock and concurrent Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) officer-in-charge, said in a media briefing.

(Currently, over 500 localities or municipalities and cities have no reported cases of ASF.)

“Out of these 500 localities, nasa 200 na ang ating nai-recover. Or from the classification na infected, sila na ngayon ay free. Sila ngayon ay nasa pink,” he added.

(Out of these 500 localities, around 200 have been recovered. In other words from the “infected” classification, they are now “free.")

ASF-affected areas have been classified into four colors: red, pink, yellow, and green. Red means the area is an infected zone; pink, buffer zone;  yellow, surveillance zone; and green means the scope is either a protected zone or ASF-free zone.

In April 2021, the DA began distributing sentinel piglets in areas where there are no reported ASF cases for at least 90 days.

Morales explained if the piglets survive for at least 40 days, the areas where they were placed will be downgraded to lower risk classification.

“Mahigit 200 na ang na-recover natin na bayan. Sa barangays, mahigit 500 na barangays ang actually nagkaroon tayo ng sentineling program,” he said.

(Over 200 areas have been recovered. In terms of barangays, I think over 500 joined the sentineling program.)

ASF first entered the country in 2019. Morales said it had affected the country’s supply chain after the Philippines’ hog population went down by 30 percent or over 3 million hogs.

The DA said it is hoping to see an increase in the supply by December with the resumption of repopulation in several areas in the country.—LDF, GMA News