ARCHIVE LATEST ASF China situation update

16 November 2018, 12:00 hours; Rome

 

 Overview

Hazard: African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal animal disease affecting pigs and wild boars with up 100% mortality.
Affected provinces: Anhui, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanxi, Yunnan, Hunan and Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian and Sichuan Provinces, Tianjin and Chongqing Municipalities, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

 

 Situation update

Since the China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MoARA) confirmed its first African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in Liaoning Province on 3 August 2018, ASF was detected in 71 villages/the smallest available admin units in 18 provinces/Autonomous Region/Municipalities. More than 470,000 pigs have been culled in an effort to halt further spread.

 

16 November, Sichuan province: ASF outbreak was reported in one farm with 40 pigs in Gao County, Yibin City [reference]. Sichuan Province had the highest pig population in the latest national statistics of China [46 759 000 head, NBS 2016, reference].

 

16 November, Jilin Province: ASF was confirmed in one wild boar found dead in Hanjiang District, Baishan City [reference]. This is the first confirmation in wild boar in China.

 

Hubei Province: ASF outbreak occurred in three farms in Wuxue City and Yishui County of Huanggang City [reference1, reference2].

 

Anhui Province: ASF outbreak occurred in one farm with 8 339 pigs in Huangshan Village, Muzhen Township, Qingyang County, reference].

 

Actions taken by China

 

The Government set a 3 km epidemic zone and a 10 km buffer zone around the epidemic zone. Within a province, movement of live pigs from the county/city/province where ASF occurred is suspended; live pig markets in infected provinces and adjacent provinces are closed; movement of live pigs and pork products from provinces with more than 2 infected cities is prohibited; transport of live pigs from provinces adjacent to ASF-affected are suspended. Breeding pigs can be transported from provinces with epidemic zone with a laboratory ASF test certificate; but it is not allowed to pass through provinces with epidemic zone when transporting live pigs [reference].

 

The Government has been strengthening transport of pork meat rather than of live pigs [reference]. Studies showed that 62% of the first 21 ASF events in China were related to swill feeding. A nationwide ban on swill feeding to pigs, record keeping of livestock transportation vehicles has been implemented [reference]. On 30 October, MoARA launched a three-month investigation campaign against illegal slaughter [reference].

 

MoARA announced intensified requirements on pig transport vehicles during the ASF emergency response, including registration, inspection of vehicles, obligation to equip GPS recorder with vehicles transport live pigs between provinces or between counties within provinces with an epidemic zone or neighbouring to such provinces, number of pigs per vehicle (max 15 pigs), obligation of disinfection before and after transport, record keeping [These measures shall come into force on 1 December, reference]. MoARA, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Public Security issued a joint notice on strengthening supervision of pig transportation [13 November, reference].

 

After assessment, Epidemic Zones in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province were lifted on 2 November [reference] since there was no further detection for 6 weeks after culling of pigs within an affected zone.

 

Table 1. List of affected cities since 3 August 2018

Province	Cities with affected areas	Last reported onset*
Heilongjiang	Jiamusi City	03/09/2018
Inner Mongolia	XilinGol League	15/09/2018
	Xing’an League	17/09/2018
	Hohhot City	22/09/2018
Jilin	Gongzhuling City	28/09/2018
	Songyuan City	28/09/2018
	Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture	08/11/2018
	Baishan City	16/11/2018
Liaoning	Shenyang City	07/09/2018
	Yingkou City	07/10/2018
	Anshan City	12/10/2018
	Dalian City	09/10/2018
	Jinzhou City	13/10/2018
	Panjin City	16/10/2018
	Tieling City	14/10/2018
Tianjin		10/10/2018
Shanxi	Datong City	16/10/2018
	Taiyuan City	30/10/2018
Jiangsu	Lianyungang City	15/08/2018
	Wuxi City	29/08/2018
Zhejiang	Wenzhou City	17/08/2018
	Taizhou City	18/10/2018
Anhui	Wuhu City	31/08/2018
	Xuancheng City	31/08/2018
	Chuzhou City	02/09/2018
	Tongling City	07/09/2018
	Chizhou City	07/11/2018
Fujian	Putian City	08/11/2018
Jiangxi	Shangrao City	08/11/2018
Henan	Zhengzhou City	16/08/2018
	Xinxiang City	10/09/2018
Hubei	Huanggang City	15/11/2018
Hunan	Yiyang City	28/09/2018
	Changde City	27/10/2018
	Huaihua City	30/10/2018
	Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	31/10/2018
	Loudi City	08/11/2018
Chongqing		02/11/2018
Sichuan	Yibin City	16/11/2018
Guizhou	Bijie City	24/10/2018
Yunnan	Zhaotong City	19/10/2018
	Pu'er City	30/10/2018

* For cases with unknown onset date, detection date or reporting date was used.

 

 FAO’s recommendations

Countries of the region

• Animal disease containment in its broadest sense should be prioritized within the highest levels of governments.
• Preparedness (e.g. contingency planning, standard operating procedures— SOPs, secured financial support) for improved early warning, detection and notification, early reaction, and coordination needs to be in place and reviewed periodically in relation to changing disease situation.
• Application of strict biosecurity measures specific to the different swine producing sectors including frequent cleaning and disinfection of farms, transport vehicles, and improved husbandry practices and production systems.
• Strengthening surveillance and monitoring of transport of live pigs as well as pork products.
• Good communication and coordination with swine producing commercial sector and swine famers are essential to strengthen cooperation in ASF prevention, detection, and control. Awareness and training of all stakeholders, from veterinarians to farmers, intermediaries and other value chain actors is needed.
• Communication to public is to be in place to avoid the rumours leading to food safety perceptions and consumption disruption.
• Farm registries, animal identification and censuses are essential to enable animal health interventions.
• Prohibition of swill feeding where feasible; highly regulated where not.
• Strengthening proper disposal of food waste (food services, airports, seaports), which may contain uncooked pork products.
• Outbreak control strategies must be in place. The strategies need to be developed in consultation with the private sector (pig production and allied industries, such as transport, feed operators) for improved disease management options and compliance.

National Considerations, Inter-Regional Collaboration and Solidarity

• Strengthening intraregional networks on disease management and diagnostic protocols.
• Understanding pig and pork value chains within the country and with neighbouring countries is essential for improved risk management.

 FAO’s actions

• FAO and MoARA are jointly organizing the Multilateral Cross-Border Meeting in Greater Mekong Subregion to Strengthen Collaboration of Transboundary Animal Disease Control in Beijing China, 22-24 November 2018 which includes “African Swine Fever Emergency Preparedness training” for Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet Nam and China.
• On 16 November, FAO-China, Chief/AGAH and CVO met with MoARA Vice Minister and senior staff of Veterinary Bureau and China Animal Disease Control Center. A call for solidarity to address the expanding global threat of ASF to the G20 was suggested by Chinese officials.
• On 23 October, Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of FAO sent a message to CVOs of China and Southeast Asian Countries encouraging further preparedness and vigilance [reference].
• FAO and MoARA jointly held a Technical Consultation on ‘Application of Technology to Strengthen ASF Control through Rapid Detection and Response’ on 11-12 October 2018 in Beijing, China, with participants from Veterinary Bureau/MoARA, China Animal Disease Control Center (CADC), China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center (CAHEC), FAO China and FAO RAP/ ECTAD Bangkok. FAO and China experts discussed the application of portable PCR device in ASF rapid detection and emergency response [reference].
• FAO organized an “Emergency Regional Consultation on African Swine Fever on Risk Reduction and Preparedness” in Bangkok, September 2018 [reference].
• FAO is in contact with authorities in neighbouring countries, to raise the importance of preparedness to respond to the threat of further spread.
• FAO mission to Mongolia and China (April 2018) to explore opportunities in wild boar surveillance.
• FAO warned of the risk of ASF spread in Asia (March 2018) and urged regional collaboration including  preparedness measures [reference].

Useful links

• African swine fever (ASF) detection and diagnosis. A manual for veterinarians (2017) [English, Русский, 中文]
• Regional strategy for the control of ASF in Africa (FAO, AU-IBAR and ILRI, 2017) [Link]
• Manual on the preparation of African swine fever contingency plans (2001) [Link]
• Rapid risk assessment of ASF introduction into China (Mar 2018) [Link]
• Good Emergency Management Practice: The Essentials [Link]
• Good practices for biosecurity in the pig sector (2010) [Link] 
• ASF awareness video [Link]
• OIE disease card [Link], OIE Manual (2012) [Link], OIE Code [Link]
• OIE weekly ASF situation reports [Link]
• Global ASF Research Alliance [Link] 

• Comments: EMPRES-Animal Health
• © FAO,