HANOI: Vietnam has been hit by an increasing number of outbreaks of African swine fever, with the number of infected pigs more than tripling in just two weeks, state media said on Tuesday.
The country has detected 972 African swine fever outbreaks so far this year, up from 514 reported in mid-July, the Tien Phong newspaper reported.
The number of pigs infected has risen to more than 100,000 from 30,000 over the same period, the paper said, citing Vietnam’s agriculture ministry. The infected pigs have died or been culled.
“ASF has broken out on a very large scale, spreading across the country, seriously affecting the livestock industry, especially the supply of pork,” Nguyen Xuan Duong, chairman of the Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam, was quoted as saying. He added that no province is safe from the disease.
African swine fever has disrupted the global pork market for years. In the worst outbreak over 2018-19, about half the domestic pig population died in China, the world’s biggest producer, causing losses estimated at over $100 billion.
The outbreaks in Vietnam last month prompted Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to send an urgent directive to provinces and government agencies to deploy measures to curb the disease, which the government said was threatening to disrupt food supplies.
Though Vietnam was the first country reportedly to have developed an African swine fever vaccine that has been in commercial use since 2023, officials said the vaccination rate was low due to concerns about costs and efficiency.
“Vaccination is just a supporting tool that can not replace basic prevention measures,” Duong said.
AVAC Vietnam JSC, the country’s main African swine fever vaccine producer, didn’t respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
AVAC said in June it had sold 3 million vaccine doses in the domestic market and exported 600,000 doses to other countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia.
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Vietnam facing worsening African swine fever outbreaks
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Vietnam facing worsening African swine fever outbreaks
- The outbreaks in Vietnam last month prompted Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to send an urgent directive to provinces and government agencies to deploy measures to curb the disease, which the government said was threatening to disrupt food supplies
Banner of Donald Trump unfurled at Justice Department headquarters
WASHINGTON: A banner of US President Donald Trump has been unfurled outside the headquarters of the Justice Department in the latest effort to stamp his identity on a Washington institution.
The blue banner unfurled on Thursday between two columns in a corner of the agency’s headquarters includes the slogan: “Make America Safe Again.”
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has moved aggressively to imprint his image and influence on federal institutions.
He has reshaped cultural and policy bodies by installing loyalists, renamed prominent institutions, and sidelined officials linked to past probes, steps critics say blur the lines between political power and traditionally independent government functions.
Banners bearing Trump’s image were affixed last year to the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture and the US Institute for Peace buildings.
A board of directors appointed by the president voted in December to add Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trump’s name was also affixed last year to the US Institute of Peace building in Washington.
The White House referred questions about the latest banner to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement cited by NBC News, a DOJ spokesperson said the department was “proud” to celebrate its “historic work to make America safe again at President Trump’s direction.”
In 2023, former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith secured indictments accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents following his first term in office and of plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
Trump falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election. His supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Congress from certifying the results of that election. After taking office for a second time in January 2025, Trump pardoned the rioters.
Trump denied wrongdoing in the cases against him, calling them politically motivated. Smith dropped both cases against the Republican after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith resigned from the Justice Department days before Trump returned to the White House early last year.
The Trump administration’s Justice Department has since targeted and fired many officials involved in probes against the Republican leader.
The blue banner unfurled on Thursday between two columns in a corner of the agency’s headquarters includes the slogan: “Make America Safe Again.”
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has moved aggressively to imprint his image and influence on federal institutions.
He has reshaped cultural and policy bodies by installing loyalists, renamed prominent institutions, and sidelined officials linked to past probes, steps critics say blur the lines between political power and traditionally independent government functions.
Banners bearing Trump’s image were affixed last year to the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture and the US Institute for Peace buildings.
A board of directors appointed by the president voted in December to add Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trump’s name was also affixed last year to the US Institute of Peace building in Washington.
The White House referred questions about the latest banner to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement cited by NBC News, a DOJ spokesperson said the department was “proud” to celebrate its “historic work to make America safe again at President Trump’s direction.”
In 2023, former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith secured indictments accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents following his first term in office and of plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
Trump falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election. His supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the Congress from certifying the results of that election. After taking office for a second time in January 2025, Trump pardoned the rioters.
Trump denied wrongdoing in the cases against him, calling them politically motivated. Smith dropped both cases against the Republican after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith resigned from the Justice Department days before Trump returned to the White House early last year.
The Trump administration’s Justice Department has since targeted and fired many officials involved in probes against the Republican leader.
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