Health | No cases of African swine fever spotted in Macau yet

A worker digs in a fermentation bed at an organic pig farm in Handan in northern China’s Hebei province

While mainland China has been identifying outbreaks of African swine fever, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau of Macau (IACM) informed that no abnormalities have been found in Macau pigs imported from the mainland.

Recently, IACM held a meeting with mainland China’s Animal and Plant Quarantine Department regarding pig exports to Macau.

According to the mainland authority, African swine fever outbreaks have been continuously reported in Liaoning, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Heilongjiang provinces, which in turn, has seriously impacted to mainland’s animal husbandry industry.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that the outbreaks are now under effective control.

A statement from IACM says that African swine fever does not affect humans.

“Currently, there are no African swine fever outbreaks in Guangdong provinces. In order to ensure the stable supply of live pigs to Hong Kong and Macau markets, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Department of the General Administration of Customs of China requires all [mainland] customs authorities to enhance quarantine and supervision of live pig farms which supply to Hong Kong and Macau,” the IACM statement says.

China reported its first case of the disease in August in Liaoning province.