70 cases of ASF confirmed in Germany
15 new cases of ASF in wild boars reported last week increased the number of the outbreaks reported by Germany at 70, according to official data released at the beginning of the week. Still, a number of carcasses detected on a river island between Germany and Poland have not been tested due to WWII ammunition on the site. So far, the local government decided to put an electric fence on the entire island to keep the remaining wild boars on the site.
Until now, all the sites where the new carcasses were found are in the previous core areas. The district Oder-Spree has a total of 54 ASF-infected wild boars, Spree-Neisse 13 and the district Märkisch-Oderland three. In these areas, there are 300 pig farms and about 85,000 animals, according to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. Some of those pigs have already slaughtered and put in consumption. Ministers of Agriculture from the Czech Republic and Poland have been invited by their German counterpart Julia Klockner to discuss the project of a wild boar-free "white zone" in the border area. Minister Klockner announced that has obtained financial support from the European Commission to build a solid fence at the border to Poland.
Human factor increases the risk
"The greatest risk for the spread of ASF is still the human factor," stressed Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Agriculture, Prof. Claudia Dalbert, referring to the possibility of contamination through improperly disposed of pork products containing the virus as the source of the outbreak. Restrictions for the farmers in the area are in order to prevent any contamination and the spreading of the virus to other zones. Since the beginning of the epidemic, on September 12, Germany has lost access to several export markets in Asia, South America and North America. More than 300,000 tonnes of pork that were supposed to be exported in the Chinese market this year is expected to be delivered in the EU market. The average pork price in Germany has lost €0.20 in the last 30 days.
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