By Emellia Tamoh
KUCHING, July 26: Sarawak is on high alert with measures in place to prevent the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) into the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas emphasised that to ensure ASF will not spread to Sarawak, it has directed all the relevant agencies to tighten up entry points to prevent all pork and pork products from being smuggled into the state illegally.
He also revealed that currently the pig industry in Sarawak is worth half a billion ringgit.
“With the massive value of our pig industry, we will not hesitate to take all the necessary and legal actions on individuals who tried to smuggle pork and pork products to Sarawak from affected countries,” he addressed a press conference after a special meeting on ASF at his office here today.
Department of Veterinary Services Sarawak (DVSS), according to him, has issued two circulars to the importers of meat and meat products on the ban of importing pork and pork products from affected countries on Dec 26, 2018 and Jan 2, 2019.
It has been confirmed that the disease has spread within the Asian region such as China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
This put neighbouring countries like Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia and also Malaysia at risk.
In Europe, ASF were mainly detected in the wild pig populations of the Eastern European countries like in Belgium which has now spread to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Sardinia.
ASF is a highly virulent and contagious disease of pigs and currently there are no treatments or vaccines available.
The virus may not be harmful to humans but it can lead to serious economic losses to farmers and impact on food security.
“I wish to seek the cooperation from all stakeholders especially our local pig farmers to step up their farm bio-security,” Uggah urged.
He also advised travellers coming back from abroad to not bring back any pork and pork products from countries affected with ASF.
DVSS director Dr Adrian Susin Ambud was among those present. — DayakDaily
