Aizawl: African Swine Fever (ASF) continues to wreak havoc on piggeries in Mizoram as 16 more pigs died due to the highly contagious pig disease on Sunday, said an official on Monday.
With 16 more deaths, as many as 770 pigs have so far died due to ASF since February till Sunday in a fresh outbreak of the pig disease, state animal husbandry and veterinary department joint director (Livestock Health) Dr. Lalhmingthanga said.
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Besides, a total of 205 pigs have died due to suspected ASF and 124 pigs culled to prevent further spread of the pig disease since February, he said.
Samples of pigs that were suspected to have died of ASF were collected and yet to confirm the actual cause of their deaths, he said.
Lalhmingthanga said that the outbreak of ASF did not subside till now since fresh pig deaths were reported in February.
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Samples of pigs that died in February were collected and were confirmed ASF in March, he said.
The ASF has currently affected 17 villages and localities in four districts- Aizawl, Champhai, Lunglei and Saitual, he said.
Unusual deaths of pigs or those suspected to have died of ASF were reported from 25 villages and localities in Aizawl, Saitual, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Champhai and Khawzawl districts, he said.
He said that the state government is making massive efforts to prevent the further spread of the pig disease as per the ‘National Action Plan for Control, Containment and Eradication of African Swine Fever.
Mizoram has already banned the import of pigs and pork products from other states and countries on April 2.
As many as 33,417 pigs have died due to the outbreak of ASF last year causing monetary losses to the tune of Rs 60.82 crore.
A total of 10,910 pigs have also been culled to prevent the further spread of ASF in the same year.
The highly contagious pig disease, which was reported for the first time in the state in March last year was initially considered more or less contained as no pig death due to the outbreak was reported since December.