Hong Kong culls 6,000 pigs after African swine fever found

Hong Kong, May 11: Hong Kong will cull 6,000 pigs after African swine fever (ASF) was detected in an animal at a slaughterhouse close to the border with China. This was the first case of the disease in the densely populated financial hub.

 

To minimise the risk of the virus spreading from the slaughterhouse, all pigs there will be culled so that thorough cleaning and also disinfection could be conducted.

The pig detected with ASF was imported from a farm in the southern mainland Chinese province of Guangdong. Pork is a staple of Chinese cuisine. Every day Hong Kong imports around 4,000 live pigs from China with only around 200 pigs coming from local farms in the crowded city.

After the fever spread across more than half of China's provinces last year, Hong Kong imposed import bans from any Chinese farms where the virus was detected.

With some of the world's most densely populated streets, Hong Kong remains on high to diseases. In 2003, some 300 people died during an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Chinese officials have said hundreds of thousands of pigs were culled in a bid to stop its spread -- an effort that has also seen restrictions placed on moving pigs from affected areas.

The virus is not dangerous to humans but is fatal to pigs and wild boar.