Bacolod City – The Provincial Veterinarian Office reported that ₱ 104,143 worth of pork-related products from areas where Asian Swine Fever has been detected, were confiscated and burned, after being seized upon entering the ports and airport of Negros Occidental, for the period running from November 14 to 20.
This does not include the 128.12 kilos of pork-related products, with a market value of ₱ 167,671, confiscated and destroyed by the joint ASF force of the provincial government and highly urbanized Bacolod City, in previous weeks.
ASF cases have been detected in six towns of Iloilo, including New Lucena, Oton, San Miguel, Leganes, Alimodian and Santa Barbara.
However, ASF cases are reported to have been declining in Oton, the first Iloilo town to record ASF cases.
Amid the reported lowering of ASF cases, Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Placeda Lemana said that they will not let their guard down.
“Even if the ASF cases there go up or down, our work will be the same,” Lemana said, noting that the ASF virus is not easily eliminated.
She added that it is only the Regional Surveillance Unit of the Department of Agriculture that can declare that an area is already free of ASF or that cases are going down.
Lemana also reported that the ASF task force is also intensifying its surveillance in groceries and markets. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)