New cases of ASF in Latvia: the profile minister has declared that the panacea from a virus does not exist

According to the Food and Veterinary Service of Latvia, 15 new cases of African swine fever were detected in the population of wild boars last week. In general, since the beginning of the year, the ASF has already been identified among 720 boars in more than 200 districts of the country and in one city. This is reported by the Latvian portal LSM.lv, UNN informed.

Minister of Agriculture of Latvia Janis Duklavs said that the shooting of wild boars did not solve the problem of ASF.

"Boars were destroyed, but it does not mean that there will never be a single case in Latvia. Everything can happen again at some farm. ASF is carried not only by the boars, but also by the human, dog and rat. Measures have already been taken for five years. However, there are no special measures. There is biosafety, although it does not provide guarantees. The same situation was with the last case in the city of Saldus, where all protection actions were at very high-level. Nevertheless, the ASF virus has spread,” he said.

It bears reminding that this month in Bulgaria for the first time an outbreak of African swine fever was recorded.

Also this year, for the first time, ASF was recorded in China.

In Ukraine, however, the ASF has not ceased for five years to a number. Last year, on the territory of our state, about 170 outbreaks of the disease were registered, in this year - about a hundred.

Losses borne by Ukrainian farmers due to the spread of the virus are estimated in billions of UAH.

Farmer public organizations accuse the authorities of inaction.

"The state does not conduct effective work on the depopulation of wild pigs, as, for example, it is done with our neighbors - Estonia or Latvia ... Once again, I appeal to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy to switch from words to deeds. In this situation, it is necessary to react as quickly as possible and implement the state strategy of overcoming ASF in Ukraine in the shortest time," Iryna Palamar, the head of the Ukrainian Stock Breeders Association commented.