Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/08/22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan is highly alert to the recent outbreaks of African swine fever in China, with Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) warning that if the deadly viruses find their way into Taiwan, the overall loss could be as high as NT$200 billion.

Three African swine fever outbreaks have happened in China in the last 15 days and the outbreaks are spreading from the north to the south, which makes Taiwan feel very threatened.

On Wednesday Taiwan held an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss what measures should be taken to ward off the viruses. Huang said in the meeting that Taiwan needs to prevent the viruses from coming into the country at all ports of entry, such as the harbors and border.

As African swine fever is highly deadly, infected pigs usually die within 24 to 48 hours, Huang said. In case of mass deaths, culling should be carried out before inspection, he added.    [FULL  STORY]